September 2014 Employment Situation — 2014-10-03

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 248,000 in September, and the unemployment rate declined to 5.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in professional and business services, retail trade, and health care. In September, the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 5.9 percent. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 329,000 to 9.3 million. Over the year, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons were down by 1.3 percentage points and 1.9 million, respectively. (See table A-1.) Among the major worker groups, unemployment rates declined in September for adult men (5.3 percent), whites (5.1 percent), and Hispanics (6.9 percent). The rates for adult women (5.5 percent), teenagers (20.0 percent), and blacks (11.0 percent) showed little change over the month. The jobless rate for Asians was 4.3 percent (not seasonally adjusted), little changed from a year earlier.