The economy saw the addition of 96,000 jobs in August, while 368,000 people left the labor force entirely. The modest job gains, coupled with fewer workers, brought the unemployment rate down from 8.3 to 8.1 percent.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment growth has averaged 139,000 per month in 2012, compared with an average monthly gain of 153,000 in 2011. Economists predicted 125,000 new jobs rather than the 96,000 that were delivered, reports CNBC.
A poor jobs report is considered bad news for President Barack Obama in the election, according to some experts.
“You could almost see if it’s a bad number, that could be perceived as good for the market, because that would help Romney,” Steve Massocca, of Wedbush Securities, told CNBC.
The national figures do not reveal how Connecticut fared in August, as the state Department of Labor will be releasing those figures later this month. In July, to the highest levels since October 2011 with an 8.5 percent rate.
When the figures were released, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said, “The phrase ‘worst economic downturn since the Great Depression’ is used so often, we’ve become immune to the words. But they’re true. So, it should come as a surprise to no one that pulling the country and our state out of that downturn is hard. Really hard.”
