WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 (UPI) — The U.S. economy added 140,000 jobs in the month of August — continuing record job growth across the nation, the White House said Friday.
The Obama administration outlined five points of economic growth in a report Friday and said the numbers extended the longest streak of private sector job growth on record.
The actual number of jobs added to the market continued to fall, compared with previous months this year, but the White House said unemployment fell to 5.1 percent.
“While the economy added jobs at a somewhat slower pace in August than in recent months, the unemployment rate fell to 5.1 percent — its lowest level since April 2008 — and the labor force participation rate remained stable,” the White House said. “Our businesses have now added 13.1 million jobs over 66 straight months, extending the longest streak on record.”
The administration also cited Bureau of Labor Statistics in saying higher wages accounted for almost 40 percent of the increase in real aggregate weekly earnings.
“But there’s more work to do to ensure that America’s domestic momentum can continue to offset some of the headwinds from the global economy,” the White House said.
The administration also cited higher wages for production and nonsupervisory workers, increased demand in the auto industry and distribution of job growth across industries as other factors that impacted August’s economic performance.
Job growth was seen in substantial numbers in the government, financial and health/social sectors — while losses were experienced in manufacturing, informational and mining industries.
The White House tempered the statistics by saying they are just a part of the overall economic picture.
“It is important not to read too much into any one monthly report, and it is informative to consider each report in the context of other data as they become available,” it said.
