An official website of the United States government
The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage point to 4.9 percent in August, the highest level since September 1997.
The jobless rate had been about 4.5 percent since April. Its most recent low was 3.9 percent in October 2000.
The number of unemployed persons increased by more than half a million to nearly 7 million in August. The unemployment rates for most major worker groups were up over the month.
These data are a product of the Current Population Survey. The above figures are all seasonally adjusted. Find out more in "The Employment Situation: August 2001," news release USDL 01-293.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Unemployment rate rose sharply in August at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2001/sept/wk2/art01.htm (visited December 02, 2024).