WASHINGTON – The U.S. labor market softened in August and the unemployment rate edged up to 4.1 percent, the government said in a key report today. The rate is up from 4.0 percent in July, while average hourly earnings – an important indicator of inflationary pressures – rose 0.3 percent to $13.80 an hour in August, down from a 0.4 percent gain in July.
Payrolls outside the farm sector declined by 105,000, following a drop of 51,000 in July, the Labor Department said in its monthly employment report.
The department noted that the overall figure had been depressed by the departure of 158,000 temporary workers for the U.S. Census during the month. A strike by some 87,000 workers at New York-based telephone company Verizon Communications in the survey period weighed on private sector payrolls, which grew by a modest 17,000 in August. But without the effects of that strike and the return of 2,000 workers from an unrelated strike, the private sector would have added 102,000 jobs, the department said.
The nation's jobless rate dipped to a 30-year low of 3.9 percent in April, rose to 4.1 percent in May and then edged down to hold at 4 percent in June and July.
The report showed softening employment growth in several key sectors of the economy. Construction employment was unchanged from July, while the manufacturing sector shed 79,000 jobs. Reflecting a decline in vehicle sales, the number of motor vehicle workers also fell, the report showed.
Above information compiled from Reuters and Associated Press news reports.