This morning’s big news is the jump in the unemployment rate to a frightening 6.1 percent in August 2008, up from 5.7 percent in July. This sharp increase underscores labor market deterioration for all groups and across almost all industries in August, with a total loss of 84,000 jobs in one month.
The unemployment rate now stands at its highest level since September 2003, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This stunning increase in the unemployment rate—0.4 percentage points in one month—is the second-largest jump since April 1995 with the largest registered in May 2008. Overall, the unemployment rate has risen by 1.4 percentage points, from 4.7 percent, over the past 12 months. This is the largest increase in the unemployment rate over the course of one year since the 12-month period that ended in May 2002.
This deterioration in labor market conditions is hitting Americans across the spectrum. Over the past year, the unemployment rate for men rose by 1.6 percentage points to 6.3 percent; by 1.2 percentage points to 5.8 percent for women; by 1.2 percentage points to 5.4 percent for whites; by 2.9 percentage points to 10.6 percent for African Americans; and by 2.5 percentage points to 8.0 percent for Hispanics. The youth unemployment rate rose by 2.7 percentage points to 18.9 percent, and the unemployment rate for people between the ages of 35 and 44 increased by 1.4 percentage points to 4.9 percent.
