The US economy added 187,000 jobs in August, beating expectations from experts, though the unemployment rate jumped to 3.8 per cent, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

       The unemployment number rose from July’s 3.5 per cent, exceeding the 3.4 per cent to 3.7 per cent rate that has been in place since March 2022.

       The unemployment rates for Asian Americans, adult men, adult women, teenagers, whites, Blacks and Hispanics remained unchanged.

       Related Hurricane Idalia - latest: Biden requests billions more in disaster relief as photos show storm’s destruction US will regulate nursing home staffing for first time, but proposal lower than many advocates hoped

       The number of Americans who lost their jobs or who completed temporary employment increased by 294,000 to 2.9m while the number of unemployed people with no previous work experience jumped by 597,000. Similarly, the labour force participation rate increased 0.2 per cent after it had been flat since March.

       The health care sector added 71,000 jobs. Leisure and hospitality added 40,000 jobs, which was lower than the average 60,000 jobs per month for the last 12 months, though the sector still has fewer jobs than it did before the Covid-19 pandemic.

       Social assistance, such as homecare, added 26,000 jobs while construction added 22,000 jobs. Employment in transportation fell by 34,000 jobs, while truck transportation lost 37,000 jobs, much of which was caused by the closure of Yellow Corps, a trucking company.

       The jobs number comes as President Joe Biden hopes to make the case that his economic policies, which has been dubbed “Bidenomics”, is working. In that regard, Mr Biden this week touted the fact that Medicare will begin the process of negotiating the price of 10 drugs, a policy included in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act.

       But it also comes as the Federal Reserve has tried to cool a once-hot labour market by raising interest rates to lower inflation. In July, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates once again.

       At the same time, the number of jobs added in June was revised down from 185,000 to 105,000 while the number of jobs added in July was revised down from 187,000 to 157,000.

       Hourly earnings also rose by 0.2 per cent in the past month and have increased by 4.3 per cent for the year.

       “Doing too little could allow above-target inflation to become entrenched and ultimately require monetary policy to wring more persistent inflation from the economy at a high cost to employment,” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last week. “Doing too much could also do unnecessary harm to the economy.”

       More about economy Unemployment

       Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

       Comments

       1/ 1US economy adds 187,000 jobs, beating expectations

       US economy adds 187,000 jobs, beating expectations

       President Joe Biden is making the economy a centre point of his bid to get back to the White House

       Getty Images

       Promoted stories

       Trading Platforms | Search Ads

       Trading Demo Account In 2023Trading Platforms | Search Ads| Sponsored Sponsored

       Search Now

       Undo

       Select Property

       How to Invest in UK Property from Singapore?Select Property| Sponsored Sponsored

       Sign Up

       Undo

       investing.com

       They Fell In Love On Set And No One Knewinvesting.com| Sponsored Sponsored

       Undo

       ？ Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article

       Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.

       Subscribe

       Already subscribed? Log in