The Employment Situation: January 1997 — 1997-02-07

Employment rose in January, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 5.4 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The number of nonfarm payroll jobs, as measured by the monthly survey of establishments, rose by 271,000 in January, after seasonal adjustment. Total employment, as measured by the monthly survey of households, rose by about 430,000 over the month, after allowance is made for the effect of revised population controls introduced into the survey in January. (See note on page 4.) Both the number of unemployed persons, 7.3 million, and the unemployment rate, 5.4 percent, were about unchanged in January, after seasonal adjustment. Jobless rates for the major demographic groups--adult men (4.6 percent), adult women (4.6 percent), teenagers (17.0 percent), whites (4.6 percent), blacks (10.8 percent), and Hispanics (8.3 percent)--also showed little or no change over the month.