US unemployment rate unchanged at 3.9% in August

Washington, Sep 7 (IANS) The US' headline unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.9 per cent in August, a month in which non-farm payrolls in the world's largest economy rose by 201,000, the Labour Department said on Friday.

The US economy remained close to full employment, while the number of jobs added last month was in line with economists' forecasts, Efe news reported.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.5 per cent), adult women (3.6 per cent), teenagers (12.8 per cent), Whites (3.4 per cent), Blacks (6.3 per cent), Asians (3 per cent) and Hispanics (4.7 per cent) showed little or no change in August.

Both the labour force participation rate, at 62.7 per cent, and the employment-population ratio, at 60.3 per cent, declined by 0.2 percentage point in August.

US employment has risen for 95 consecutive months, the longest jobs-expansion streak on record.

The jobless rate came in under 4 percent for the fourth time this year.

The unemployment rate unexpectedly climbed to 4 percent in June -- up from 3.8 per cent in May, the lowest level since 2000 -- mainly because more people were actively looking for work.

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