The U.S. economy added just 235,000 new jobs in August, a dismal result that fell far below economists’ predictions of 720,000 new hires for the month. The disappointing figures suggest Americans are either reluctant to go back to work, or companies are unwilling to hire new workers, as the Delta variant of the coronavirus sends case numbers soaring again and fills hospitals with thousands of dying patients. Some industries like professional and business jobs, and warehouse jobs, recorded moderate gains but leisure and hospitality jobs, which had been recovering rapidly until now, have stalled. About 5.6 million people gave pandemic-related reasons for why they couldn’t work, an increase of 400,000. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.2 percent from 5.4 percent.