5 Sep 2011

US employment figures worse than expected

1:52 pm on 5 September 2011

The latest economic news has found the US economy added no new jobs in August.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.1% percent, the level it has been at for about two years.

The August number was much worse than had been expected - the predicted figure was an addition of about 70,000 new jobs, the BBC reports.

In addition, the figures for the previous two months were revised down to show weaker jobs growth, according to key non-farm payrolls figures from the Department of Labor.

The Labor Department now says that in July 85,000 jobs were created, down from 117,000 in the earlier estimate, while the number of jobs added in June was revised down from 46,000 to 20,000.