Advance Seen in Labor Market in August: Unemployment Continues At 9 1/2% During August
The nationÛªs unemployment rate held at 9 Vi percent in August, as the number of people looking for work increased by more than the number of new jobs, the government reported yesterday.</br></br>Despite the levelling off in the unemployment rate, the new figures showed that the ÛÏlabor market continued to improve in August,Û according to Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Janet L. Norwood. Almost 300,000 jobs were created last month, and factory overtime increased, she said.</br></br>The rise in jobs did not show up in an improvement in the unemployment rate, because it was more than matched by an increase in the number of people looking for work, the Labor report said. The civilian labor force climbed by 404,000 in August after a slight decline in July. Adult</br></br>Black unemployment, meanwhile, jumped from 19 Vz percent in July to 20 percent in August, as the number of black teenage boys looking for Work soared to a record 56.8 percent, the Labor Department said. ÛÏWe find there is a large disparity ... between the whites and blacks,Û said Norwood. ÛÏI think the problem of jobs for our black teenagers is a serious one.Û</br></br>Several analysts had expected unemployment to hold steady or decline only slightly in August after rapid declines in the early months of the recovery. ÛÏThe general trend is downward, but slowly downward. YouÛªve got a combination of growth in the labor force and slower growth in the economy,Û said Nariman Beh-ravesh of Wharton Econometrics in Philadelphia.