The Employment Situation: September 1994 — 1994-10-07

Employment continued to rise in September and unemployment fell, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The unemployment rate declined over the month, from 6.1 to 5.9 percent. The rate had been 6.7 percent in January (the first month based on the revised questionnaire and survey procedures). Nonfarm payroll employment, as measured by the employer survey, rose by 239,000 in September, while total employment, as measured by the survey of households, increased sharply for the second consecutive month after growing very slowly earlier in the year. Both surveys show substantial growth since January. Unemployment declined in September, with the number of unemployed persons dropping by 308,000 to 7.7 million and the unemployment rate decreasing by 0.2 percentage point to 5.9 percent. Since January, the unemployment rate has fallen by 0.8 percentage point, while the number of unemployed persons has dropped by about 1 million.