U.S. added 156,000 jobs in August, fewer than expected

Harold Maass, The Week US's avatar
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The U.S. economy added 156,000 new jobs in August, falling short of the 170,000 or greater increase in non-farm jobs predicted by economists polled by MarketWatch and other news outlets. The unemployment rate edged up from 4.3 percent to 4.4 percent, according to the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics report. The hiring figures marked a slowdown from July, although the latest report cut the estimate of jobs created that month to 189,000 from 209,000. The June gain was reduced from 231,000 to 210,000. The August figures don't include any impact from Hurricane Harvey. Average wages increased by 3 cents to $26.39 an hour.

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Harold Maass, The Week US
Harold Maass, The Week US

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.