Unemp Oct 07

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 166,000 in October, and the unemployment
rate was unchanged at 4.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S.
Department of Labor reported today.  Job gains occurred in professional and
business services, health care, and leisure and hospitality.  Manufacturing
employment continued to decline, and construction employment was little changed.
   
Unemployment (Household Survey Data)
   
The number of unemployed persons, at 7.2 million, was essentially unchanged
in October, and the unemployment rate held at 4.7 percent.  A year earlier, the
number of unemployed persons was 6.7 million, and the jobless rate was 4.4
percent.
   
In October, unemployment rates for the major worker groups--adult men (4.3
percent), adult women (4.1 percent), teenagers (15.6 percent), whites (4.2
percent), blacks (8.5 percent), and Hispanics (5.6 percent)--showed little or 
no change.  The unemployment rate for Asians was 3.7 percent, not seasonally
adjusted.  (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
   
Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
   
Total employment, at 146.0 million, was about unchanged in October.  The
employment-population ratio--62.7 percent--was little changed in October but 
was down from its recent peak of 63.4 percent in December.  The civilian labor
force, at 153.3 million in October, and the labor force participation rate, at
65.9 percent, were essentially unchanged from September.  (See table A-1.)
   
Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
   
Nearly 1.4 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached
to the labor force in October, about unchanged from a year earlier.  These in-
dividuals wanted and were available to work and had looked for a job sometime
during the prior 12 months.  They were not counted as unemployed because they
had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.  Among the
marginally attached, there were 320,000 discouraged workers in October, little
different from a year earlier.  Discouraged workers were not currently looking
for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them.
The other 1.0 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in October
had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such
as school attendance and family responsibilities.  (See table A-13.)
   
Southern California Wildfires  
 
The Southern California wildfires and resulting evacuations had no dis-
cernable impact on the October payroll and household survey estimates.