Jobs report August 2023:

The unemployment rate rose sharply in August, as the summer of 2023 neared a close with a job market in slowdown mode.

Nonfarm payrolls grew by a seasonally adjusted 187,000 for the month, above the Dow Jones estimate for 170,000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

However, the unemployment rate was 3.8%, up significantly from July and the highest since February 2022, and nonfarm payrolls estimates for previous months showed sharp downward revision. That increase in the jobless level came as the labor force participation rate rose to 62.8%, the highest since February 2020, just before the Covid pandemic declaration. The total labor force size increased by 736,000.

A more…