The Employment Situation: March 2005 — 2005-04-01

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 110,000 in March, and the unemployment rate declined to 5.2 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Several industries added jobs over the month, including construction, mining, health care, and wholesale trade. Both the number of unemployed persons, 7.7 million, and the unemployment rate, 5.2 percent, decreased in March. The jobless rate was down from 5.7 per- cent a year earlier. Over the month, the unemployment rates for adult men (4.6 percent), whites (4.4 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (5.7 percent) declined. The unemployment rates for adult women (4.5 percent), teenagers (16.9 percent), and blacks or African Americans (10.3 percent) were little changed. The jobless rate for Asians was 3.9 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.) In March, persons who had been unemployed for 27 weeks or more accounted for 21.5 percent of the unemployed, down from 23.8 percent a year earlier.