The Employment Situation: March 1999 — 1999-04-02

Employment was little changed in March, and the unemployment rate declined to 4.2 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Nonfarm payroll employment increased by only 46,000. Employment rose in most service-producing industries, but unseasonably cold weather contributed to job losses in construction. Manufacturing and mining employment continued to decline. Both the number of unemployed persons, 5.8 million, and the unemploy- ment rate, 4.2 percent, decreased in March. From April 1998 through February 1999, the rate had been in the 4.3- to 4.5-percent range. The jobless rate for adult men dropped to 3.2 percent in March. Unemployment rates for whites (3.6 percent) and Hispanics (5.8 percent) also decreased, while rates for other major demographic groups--adult women (3.9 percent), teenagers (14.3 percent), and blacks (8.1 percent)--were little changed.