The Employment Situation: December 2003 — 2004-01-09

Employment was virtually unchanged in December while the unemployment rate, at 5.7 percent, continued to trend down, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Following increases that totaled 277,000 in the prior 4 months, nonfarm payroll was flat in December (+1,000). The number of unemployed persons was 8.4 million in December and the unem- ployment rate was 5.7 percent. Both measures continued to edge down from their recent highs in June 2003. In December, the unemployment rates for adult men (5.3 percent) and Hispanics or Latinos (6.6 percent) declined. The jobless rates for the other major worker groups--adult women (5.1 percent), teenagers (16.1 percent), whites (5.0 percent), and blacks (10.3 percent)--showed little or no change from the previous month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 5.3 percent in December, not seasonally adjusted.