The Employment Situation: December 1997 — 1998-01-09

Nonfarm payroll employment rose substantially in December, following a similar increase in November, and the unemployment rate was about unchanged at 4.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Nonfarm payroll employment grew by 370,000, with gains occurring in most industry divisions. Both the number of unemployed persons, 6.4 million, and the unemployment rate, 4.7 percent, were essentially unchanged in December, after seasonal adjustment. A year earlier the rate had been 5.3 percent. The jobless rate for adult men returned to 4.1 percent in December after falling to 3.9 percent in November. The unemployment rates for other major worker groups--adult women (4.0 percent), teenagers (14.3 percent), whites (3.9 percent), blacks (9.9 percent), and Hispanics (7.5 percent)--showed little or no change over the month. (See tables A-1 and A-2.) Total employment was about unchanged in December, at 130.8 million (seasonally adjusted), following a substantial increase in November.