Unemployment Rate and Composition of the Labor Force by Age and Sex, Annual Averages, Selected Years, 1959

Table of contents

Sex and age	1959	1969	1979	1989	1999	2002
Unemployment rate
Total, 16 years and older	5.5	3.5	5.8	5.3	4.2	5.8
Men:
16 to 19 years	15.3	11.4	15.9	15.9	14.7	18.1
20 to 24 years	8.7	5.1	8.7	8.8	7.7	10.2
25 to 34 years	4.7	1.9	4.3	4.8	3.6	5.8
35 to 44 years	3.7	1.5	2.9	3.7	2.8	4.5
45 to 54 years	4.1	1.5	2.7	3.2	2.6	4.2
55 to 64 years	4.5	1.8	2.7	3.5	2.7	4.3
65 years and older	4.8	2.2	3.4	2.4	3.0	3.4
Women:
16 to 19 years	13.5	13.3	16.4	14.0	13.2	14.9
20 to 24 years	8.1	6.3	9.6	8.3	7.2	9.1
25 to 34 years	5.9	4.6	6.5	5.6	4.4	5.9
35 to 44 years	5.1	3.4	4.6	3.9	3.3	4.6
45 to 54 years	4.2	2.6	3.9	3.2	2.5	3.8
55 to 64 years	4.1	2.2	3.2	2.8	2.6	3.5
65 years and older	2.8	2.3	3.3	2.9	3.2	3.9
Composition of the labor force
Total, 16 years and older	68,369	80,734	104,962	123,869	139,368	144,863
Percent	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
Men:
16 to 19 years	3.8	4.8	4.9	3.3	3.1	2.7
20 to 24 years	5.8	6.5	8.1	6.0	5.2	5.4
25 to 34 years	15.1	13.6	15.6	16.1	12.4	12.1
35 to 44 years	15.9	13.1	11.0	13.4	14.6	13.7
45 to 54 years	13.8	12.8	9.5	8.8	11.0	11.8
55 to 64 years	9.3	8.7	6.9	5.5	5.4	6.0
65 years and older	3.4	2.7	1.9	1.6	1.7	1.8
Women:
16 to 19 years	2.8	3.8	4.3	3.1	2.9	2.6
20 to 24 years	3.6	5.7	6.9	5.4	4.8	4.8
25 to 34 years	6.0	6.7	11.0	12.9	10.6	10.1
35 to 44 years	7.6	7.3	7.8	11.3	12.6	11.8
45 to 54 years	7.4	7.9	6.6	7.3	10.0	10.7
55 to 64 years	4.2	5.0	4.5	4.1	4.5	5.2
65 years and older	1.2	1.3	1.1	1.2	1.2	1.3