March 08, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment in February 2005

In February, both the number of unemployed persons, 8.0 million, and the unemployment rate, 5.4 percent, returned to their December levels after dipping in January.

Unemployment rate, February 2004-February 2005
[Chart data—TXT]

The jobless rate had been either 5.4 or 5.5 percent during each of the last 6 months of 2004.

The unemployment rates for the major worker groups—adult men (4.9 percent), adult women (4.7 percent), teenagers (17.5 percent), whites (4.6 percent), blacks (10.9 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (6.4 percent)—showed little change between January and February.

The number of long-term unemployed—those unemployed for 27 weeks and over—remained at 1.6 million in February. This group accounted for 1 in 5 unemployed persons.

These data are from the Current Population Survey and are seasonally adjusted. For more information, see "The Employment Situation: February 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-345.

Of interest

Spotlight on Statistics: The Recession of 2007–2009

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