Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 162,000 in August, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in food services and drinking places and in local government education. The information industry lost jobs.
The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1% in August, and the number of unemployed people changed little at 7.0 million. Both measures changed little over the year. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for people who are Asian declined to 3.2% in August. The rate for teenagers edged up to 14.1% over the month, mostly offsetting a decline in the prior month. The jobless rates for adult men (4.0%), adult women (3.5%), and people who are White (3.7%), Black (6.0%), or Hispanic (4.8%) showed little change in August.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) changed little at 1.9 million in August. The long-term unemployed accounted for 27.0 % of all unemployed people. The labor force participation rate edged up to 61.6 percent in August but is down by 0.5 percentage point since January. The employment-population ratio, at 59.1%, changed little over the month and since January.
The number of people employed part time for economic reasons decreased by 414,000 to 4.4 million in August. These individuals would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs.
In August, the number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job changed little at 5.7 million. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job.
