The Employment Situation: February 2003 — 2003-03-07

Total nonfarm payroll employment fell by 308,000 in February, while the unemployment rate was about unchanged at 5.8 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Job losses were widespread, with retail trade and services posting especially large declines. The unemployment rate was little changed in February, at 5.8 percent; the number of unemployed persons was 8.5 million. Since November 2001, the unemployment rate has ranged from 5.6 to 6.0 percent. The jobless rates for the major worker groups in February were: adult men (5.3 percent), adult women (5.0 percent), teenagers (17.1 percent), whites (5.0 percent), blacks or African Americans (10.5 percent), Asians (6.0 percent, not sea- sonally adjusted), and Hispanics or Latinos (7.7 percent). (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.) In February, nearly 1.9 million persons had been unemployed for 27 weeks or more. They made up about 22 percent of all unemployed persons, compared with about 15 percent a year earlier.