U.S. created 193,000 jobs in January, below forecast, unemployment dips. Friday, February 3, 2006.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: JANUARY 2006
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 193,000 in January, and the
unemployment rate fell to 4.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of
the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Job gains occurred in several
industries, including construction, mining, food services and drinking places,
health care, and financial activities.
Unemployment (Household Survey Data)
The number of unemployed persons fell to 7.0 million in January, and the
unemployment rate decreased to 4.7 percent, seasonally adjusted. The unemploy-
ment rate had ranged from 4.9 to 5.1 percent during most of 2005. The jobless
rate for adult men declined to 4.0 percent in January. For other major worker
groups--adult women (4.3 percent), teenagers (15.3 percent), whites (4.1 per-
cent), blacks (8.9 percent), and Hispanics (5.8 percent)--unemployment rates
were essentially unchanged. The rate for black teens, which had an unusually
large decline in December, rose to 31.4 percent in January. The unemployment
rate for Asians was 3.2 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1,
A-2, and A-3.)
In January, 16.3 percent of the unemployed had been without a job for 27
weeks or longer, down from 18.2 percent in the prior month. In January 2005,
the proportion was 21.0 percent. (See table A-9.)
Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
Total employment continued to trend upward in January. The labor force
participation rate and the employment-population ratio showed little or no
change over the month, at 66.0 and 62.9 percent, respectively. (See
table A-1.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Establishment and Household Data Changes |
| |
| The establishment survey data in this release have been revised |
| as a result of the annual benchmarking process and the updating of |
| seasonal adjustment factors. See the note beginning on page 5 for |
| more information on the revisions. |
| |
| In addition, household survey data for January 2006 reflect up- |
| dated population controls. See the note on page 6 for more informa- |
| tion. Also, new seasonally adjusted employment data for multiple |
| jobholders have been added to table A-6 of this release. |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
About 1.6 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally at-
tached to the labor force in January, down from 1.8 million a year earlier.
These were people who wanted and were available for work and had looked for
a job sometime in the prior 12 months but were not counted as unemployed
because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.
The number of discouraged workers--a subset of the marginally attached who
were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no
jobs were available for them--was 396,000 in January, a decrease of 119,000
from a year earlier. (See table A-13.)
1 Changes in household data levels are not shown due to the introduction
of updated population controls. See the note on page 6 for more information.
2 Establishment data have been revised to reflect March 2005 benchmark
levels and updated seasonal adjustment factors. See the note on page 5 for
more information.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/03/news/economy/jobs_january/index.htmUnemployment rate falls to lowest since 2001
Employers add more jobs than December but less than forecasts, unemployment rate falls to 4.7 percent.
February 3, 2006: 8:35 AM EST
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Employers added more jobs in January, according to a government report Friday, as the latest reading of labor market strength still fell short of Wall Street expectations.
The unemployment rate fell to 4.7 percent, the lowest since before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack. Economists had forecast that the rate would remain at 4.9 percent.<snip>