October 11, 2011 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment in September 2011

The number of unemployed persons, at 14.0 million, was essentially unchanged in September, and the unemployment rate was 9.1 percent. Since April, the rate has held in a narrow range from 9.0 to 9.2 percent.

Unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, January 2008–September 2011
[Chart data]

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (8.8 percent), adult women (8.1 percent), teenagers (24.6 percent), whites (8.0 percent), blacks (16.0 percent), and Hispanics (11.3 percent) showed little or no change in September. The jobless rate for Asians was 7.8 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

The civilian labor force increased by 423,000 in September, but the labor force participation rate—the percentage of the civilian noninstitutional working-age population who are in the labor force—was little changed, at 64.2 percent.

Civilian labor force, seasonally adjusted, January 2008–September 2011
[Chart data]

These data are from the Current Population Survey. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation — September 2011" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-11-1441.

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