Unemployment Jumps to 3.8% in August, 187,000 Jobs Added

Employers in the United States added 187,000 workers to their payrolls in August, the Department of Labor said Friday.

The unemployment rate jumped to 3.8 percent.

In the preliminary report for July, the Labor Department said that the economy added 187,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent. On Friday, the government revised this down to show the economy added just 157,000. The June report was revised down by 80,000 to 105,000. Over the prior 12 months, employment has grown an average of 271,000 per month.

Economists had forecast the economy would add around 170,000 jobs, with the range of forecasts in the Econoday survey running from 40,000 to 190,000. The wide range suggests a lot of uncertainty about the strength of the labor market.