Meltdown 101: A deep dive into the unemployment report sheds light on the nation’s challenges

Meltdown 101: Unemployment report, by the numbers

WASHINGTON — April saw the fewest job layoffs in six months, but that fact was no comfort to workers who were laid off or to the millions who have lost jobs during this recession.

And that’s only part of the story. A deep dive into the latest employment report offers a fuller picture of the nation’s challenging and complex jobs situation.

Here are some other details that can be found in Friday’s employment report, by the numbers.

MONTH-BY-MONTH TOTALS

13.7 million: People unemployed in April 2009, the most ever in records dating to 1948

13.2 million: People unemployed in March 2009

12.1 million: People unemployed in December 1982, record before the current recession, although labor force was smaller back then

THE RATE

8.9 percent: The rate in April 2009

9.2 percent: The rate in September 1983, the last time the unemployment rate was higher

4.4 percent: The lowest rate during the last expansion, a level last reached in March 2007

10.8 percent: The rate in December 1982, the highest unemployment rate in past six decades

15.8 percent: The unemployment rate in April 2009 if you include laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or who have settled for part-time work — the highest such rate on records that go back to 1994

THE RATE, GROUP BY GROUP

8.5 percent: Adult men

6.4 percent: Adult women

6.6 percent: Asians

8.0 percent: Whites

11.3 percent: Hispanics

15 percent: Blacks

21.5 percent: Teenagers

TOTAL JOBS LOST

5.7 million: Net payroll jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007

539,000: Jobs lost in April

699,000: Jobs lost in March

681,000: Jobs lost in February

741,000: Jobs lost in January

GLIMMER OF HOPE

66,000: Increase in the number of federal government workers in April

63,000: Increase in federal jobs in April attributed to hiring temporary Census workers

1.4 million: Number of workers Census expects to hire by fall 2009

WHO’S SURVEYED

60,000: Number of households interviewed in the monthly Census Bureau survey from which the unemployment rate is derived

160,000: Number of businesses and government agencies included in the survey from which payroll gains and losses are derived