A mixed August jobs report keeps the Federal Reserve on track to bring interest rates down from a 23-year-high, experts say, but it's still uncertain as to whether the central bank will cut by a quarter of a percentage point or half a percentage point.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls expanded by 142,000 last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday, or well below economists' forecast for the creation of 165,000 jobs. Over the past year, the U.S. economy created an average of 202,000 jobs per month. Additionally, the soft July jobs report was revised down by 61,000 jobs. Taken together, nonfarm payrolls for June and July were 86,000 lower than previously reported.
