The Employment Situation: August 2002 — 2002-09-06

Both payroll employment and the unemployment rate were little changed in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Job gains in services, government, and construction were largely offset by losses in manufacturing and retail trade. Both the unemployment rate, 5.7 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, 8.1 million, were little changed over the month. The jobless rates for the major worker groups--adult men (5.2 percent), adult women (4.9 percent), teenagers (17.2 percent), whites (5.1 percent), blacks (9.6 percent), and Hispanics (7.5 percent)--showed little or no change. (See tables A-1 and A-2.) The number of persons unemployed 15 weeks or more was 2.8 million in August, down from the recent high of 3.1 million in June. (See table A-6.) Total employment rose by 429,000 to 134.5 million in August, after seasonal adjustment. The employment-population ratio was up by 0.2 percentage point to 62.8 percent.