U.S. economy adds just 151,000 jobs in August

Jobs were not as prevalent as they were expected to be.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs in August, beneath the 173,000 forecast and far lower than the big gains seen in June and July, according to a Labor Department report released Friday. The tally for June was cut from 292,000 to 271,000, and the July gain was bumped up from 255,000 to 275,000.

The unemployment rate remains unchanged at 4.9 percent. Analysts said the hiring slowdown was not shocking, as companies cut investments and had trouble finding workers, and that it probably would delay the Federal Reserve's next rate hike closer to the end of 2016.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.