For 21 consecutive months, unemployment had been at or greater than 9.0 percent.
Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports here the headline number of 8.9 percent:
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 192,000 in February, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 8.9 percent, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today . . ..
The number of unemployed persons (13.7 million) . . ..
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was 6.0 million and accounted for 43.9 percent of the unemployed.
Both the civilian labor force participation rate, at 64.2 percent, and the employment-population ratio, at 58.4 percent, were unchanged in February . . ..
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was essentially unchanged at 8.3 million in February . . ..
In February, 2.7 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, up from 2.5 million a year earlier. ... These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. ...
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 34.2 hours in February . . ..
In February, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 1 cent to $22.87. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 1.7 percent.
Break out the party hats and fireworks.
