The US economy shed 54,000 jobs in August, significantly less than anticipated, stoking hopes that the country's labour market is slowly improving.
Analysts were expecting more than 105,000 job losses last month.
The unemployment rate, however, inched up to 9.6 per cent in August, primarily due to a fall in the count of temporary workers hired by the Federal government for census activities.
"Non-farm payroll employment changed little (-54,000) in August and the unemployment rate was about unchanged at 9.6 per cent," the latest data from the US Labour Department showed. In August, employment by the government declined as 114,000 temporary workers hired for the decennial census completed their work.
Meanwhile, the private sector witnessed the addition of 67,000 jobs in the same period. "The number of unemployed persons (14.9 million) and the unemployment rate (9.6 per cent) were little changed in August.
From May through August, the jobless rate remained in the range of 9.5 to 9.7 per cent," the Labour Department said in a statement.
According to the data, the jobless rate for adult men and women stood at 9.8 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively, in August.
Despite the economy showing signs of recovery, the American employment scene continues to remain shaky and is expected to take more time to stabilise.
© 2025