NATIONAL REPORT—The U.S. economy added 130,000 jobs in August, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7%, according to a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Employment in federal government rose, largely reflecting the hiring of temporary workers for the 2020 Census. Notable job gains also occurred in healthcare and financial activities, while mining lost jobs.
In August, the unemployment rate was 3.7% percent for the third month in a row, and the number of unemployed persons was essentially unchanged at six million.
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.4%), adult women (3.3%), teenagers (12.6%), Whites (3.4%), Blacks (5.5%), Asians (2.8%) and Hispanics (4.2%) showed little or no change in August.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 1.2 million in August and accounted for 20.6% of the unemployed.
The labor force participation rate edged up to 63.2% in August but has shown little change, on net, thus far this year. The employment-population ratio, at 60.9%, also edged up over the month and is up by 0.6 percentage point over the year.