The Employment Situation: July 2003 — 2003-08-01

Both the unemployment rate and nonfarm payroll employment edged down in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Payroll employment has declined for the past 6 months. Job losses continued in manufacturing, while temporary help and other administrative services added workers. The unemployment rate was 6.2 percent in July; the number of unemployed persons was 9.1 million. Both measures edged down over the month, largely offsetting increases in June. Over the month, jobless rates for adult men (5.9 percent), teenagers (18.4 percent), and blacks (11.1 percent) edged down from levels reached in June. Jobless rates for adult women (5.2 per- cent), whites (5.5 percent), and Hispanics (8.2 percent) showed little or no change in July. The unemployment rate for Asians was 6.2 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.) In July, the number of persons unemployed for less than 5 weeks decreased by 279,000.