7 months ago
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The nation's employers added 187,000 jobs in August, evidence of a slowing but still-resilient labor market despite the high interest rates the Federal Reserve has imposed.
Last month's job growth marked an increase from July's revised gain of 157,000 but still pointed to a moderating pace of hiring compared with the sizzling gains of last year and earlier this year. From June through August, the economy added 449,000 jobs, the lowest three-month total in three years. In addition, the government revised down the gains for June and July by a combined 110,000.
Friday's report from the Labor Department also showed that the unemployment rate rose from 3.5% to 3.8%, the highest level since February 2022, though still low by historical standards. But the rate rose for an encouraging reason: A sizable number of people—736,000—began looking for work last month, the most since January, and not all of them found jobs right away. Only people who are actively looking for a job are counted as unemployed.
Indeed, the proportion of Americans who either have a job or are looking for one rose in August to 62.8%, the highest level since February 2020, before COVID-19 slammed into the U.S. economy.
