U.S. unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage point to 4.3% in July, and the number of unemployed people increased by 352,000 to 7.2 million. These measures are higher than a year earlier, when the jobless rate was 3.5%, and the number of unemployed people was 5.9 million, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (4.0%) and Whites (3.8%) increased in July. The jobless rates for adult women (3.8%), teenagers (12.4%), Blacks (6.3%), Asians (3.7%), and Hispanics (5.3%) showed little or no change over the month.
Among the unemployed, the number of people on temporary layoff increased by 249,000 to 1.1 million in July. The number of permanent job losers changed little at 1.7 million.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) changed little at 1.5 million in July. This measure is up from 1.2 million a year earlier. The long-term unemployed accounted for 21.6% of all unemployed people in July.
The labor force participation rate, at 62.7%, changed little in July and was little changed over the year. The employment-population ratio was little changed at 60.0% in July but is down by 0.4 percentage point over the year.
The number of people employed part time for economic reasons rose by 346,000 to 4.6 million in July. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs.
