MW: Nonfarm payrolls down 54,000 in Aug. rate at 9.6%
By Greg Robb
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. lost 54,000 nonfarm jobs in August, the Labor Department said Friday. The decline was smaller than the 105,000 loss expected by Wall Street economists polled by MarketWatch. Excluding census workers and other government employees, nonfarm payrolls expanded by 67,000 in August higher than the 30,000 gain expected and less than the revised 107,000 private-sector gains in July. The unemployment rate ticked higher to 9.6% in August from 9.5% in the previous month. This is the highest unemployment rate since May. Economists forecast the unemployment rate to rise to 9.6%. Average hourly earnings increased 3 cents, or 0.2% to $19.08. Economists had been expecting a 0.1% gain. Earnings are up 1.7% in the past year. The average workweek was unchanged at 34.2 hours.
