Despite the decline in the unemployment rate remains relatively high at around 25-30%.

The employment report showed an increase of 217,000 jobs and a decline in the unemployment rate.

"I agree also that the decline in the unemployment rate, though steady, is likely to be slow."

And the one-tenth of a percentage point decline in the unemployment rate was also a surprise.

They cautioned, however, that the decline in the unemployment rate, the first in almost a year, was probably an aberration.

And they may have been helped by comments from Labor Department officials who said that the decline in the unemployment rate was overstated.

The gradual decline in the unemployment rate, from a high of 6.4 percent in June, puzzled economists.

Economists also see mounting wage pressures in the face of recent declines in the unemployment rate.

But brighter statistics this year, including a further decline in the unemployment rate in February, have eased those concerns.

The surprising decline in the unemployment rate, to 4.3 percent, must be adding to Fed worries about rising wage pressures.

But, despite a decline in the unemployment rate in January to 5.7 percent from 6 percent, stocks resumed their fall.

Schacht's administration achieved a rapid decline in the unemployment rate, the largest of any country during the Great Depression.

Some economists expected a greater decline in the poverty rate because of the decline in the unemployment rate.

In addition, a continuing decline in the unemployment rate and a resumption of competition for workers may encourage worker militancy.

Demographic Factors Cited On its face, the decline in the unemployment rate seemed to contradict the evidence of economic slowing.

"Normally," Mr. Weissenstein said, "a monthly decline in the unemployment rate is good news.

"That is good news," Mr. Clinton said at a meeting with the nation's mayors, referring to the job growth and the decline in the unemployment rate.

"The decline in the unemployment rate is good news," said Michael J. Boskin, the President's top economic adviser.

Unemployment - Mr. Bush will boast about the decline in the unemployment rate from its June 2003 peak.

They cited a rise of 6 cents in average hourly earnings in April and a decline in the unemployment rate to 5.4 percent from 5.6 percent.

The tightness in the labor market is likely to be underscored by a decline in the unemployment rate to 4 percent, from 4.1 percent in February.

In interviews, the mayors based their optimism on heightened public awareness, help from private groups and the Federal Government, and a decline in the unemployment rate.

The conventional wisdom, naturally, is that the decline in the unemployment rate will force the Fed's hand when it meets on May 20, even without evidence of inflation.

An important but frequently overlooked factor in the nationwide decline in crime over the past few years has been the corresponding decline in the unemployment rate.

Rate Among Teen-Agers The one-tenth of a point decline in the unemployment rate followed a similar drop in July.

How large a reduction in the unemployment rate is it realistic to hope for?

However, even with significant increases in the number of jobs, a substantial reduction in the unemployment rate will take some time.

There was a tiny reduction in the unemployment rate - because the work force became smaller, not because of job creation.

The reduction in the unemployment rate and growth in per capita income is attributable to the oil boom in the state.

The other is a reduction in the unemployment rate, which has fallen as employers have dipped deeper into the employment pool to find the workers they need.

The Luxembourg summit will be the acid test of our credibility, as an active employment policy and a reduction in the unemployment rate are also the best safeguards and guarantees of adequate social protection.

We will only be able to say that the structural policy of the Union has been a success when we manage to create a sufficient number of jobs and when there is a significant reduction in the unemployment rate.