The Employment Situation: December 1998 — 1999-01-08

Employment rose in December and the unemployment rate, at 4.3 percent, was little changed, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 378,000. Growth was spread throughout the service-producing sector, and unusually mild weather across much of the country contributed to strength in construction. Both the number of unemployed persons, 6.0 million, and the unemployment rate, 4.3 percent, were little changed in December. The jobless rate has remained within a narrow range of 4.3 to 4.5 percent since April. (See note below.) The unemployment rates for the major worker groups--adult men (3.6 percent), adult women (3.9 percent), teenagers (14.0 percent), whites (3.8 percent), blacks (7.9 percent), and Hispanics (7.6 percent)--showed little or no change in December.