U.S. employers added a healthy number of jobs in August and a steady stream of people entering the workforce lifted the unemployment rate, suggesting some easing in the tight labor market and offering mixed implications for the Federal Reserve.
Nonfarm payrolls increased 315,000 last month following a revised 526,000 advance in July, a Labor Department report showed Friday. The unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to a six-month high of 3.7%, the first increase since January, as the participation rate climbed.
Economists projected an almost 300,000 gain in payrolls and a 3.5% jobless rate, based on the median estimates in a Bloomberg survey.
