WORK IN PROGRESS

U.S. Job Growth Continued in August as Unemployment Also Rose

Employers added 315,000 new jobs as unemployment rose slightly to 3.7 percent.

Job growth continued in August with employers adding 315,000 new positions, the Labor Department said Friday, and the unemployment rate rising slightly to 3.7 percent. The continued jobs growth was at a slower pace than July, when 526,000 new positions were added. The figures showed that the labor market remained steady despite a contraction of the economy as a whole in the first half of 2022. Employers rehiring staff after COVID job cuts are thought to have helped swell payrolls to a monthly average of around 800,000, with payrolls now slightly higher than their pre-pandemic peak. It’s thought the rehiring frenzy will slow and drop off as a leading driver of job growth in the coming months.