June 7, 2002 — 2002-06-07

Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press under lock-up conditions with the explicit understanding that the data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. I appreciate this opportunity to comment on the May employment and unemployment data that we released this morning. Both the unemployment rate, at 5.8 percent, and nonfarm payroll employment, at 130.7 million, were little changed in May. In 2001, the unemployment rate trended up, particularly following the terrorist attacks in September. Thus far this year, however, the trend has been less clear. Over the month, the jobless rate for blacks fell a full percentage point to 10.2 percent, and the rate for Hispanics declined by nearly a percentage point to 7.0 percent. Even though the unemployment level was about unchanged, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless 27 weeks and longer) continued to rise over the month, by 142,000.