The U.S. economy added 315,000 jobs and the unemployment rate rose by .2 percentage points to 3.7 percent during the month of August, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.
Job growth had been expected to come in at around 300,000 after the economy added 526,000 jobs in July. The August uptick was driven largely by increases in the “professional and business services, health care, and retail trade” sectors, according to the data.
The unemployment rate increased in spite of the job growth as more Americans reported that they were entering the labor force.
Covid-19’s effect on the economy remains observable in the 1.9 million people who reported that they were “unable to work… because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic.” Over 500,000 unemployed people also claimed they “were prevented from looking for work due to the pandemic.”
Despite the increase in jobs, the number of full-time workers decreased by 242,000, compared to the seasonally adjusted number in July. At the same time, the number of part-time workers increased by 413,000 workers.
The amount of people working multiple jobs increased by 114,000 as compared to the seasonally adjusted numbers in July, and 94,000 fewer people were self-employed.
Inflation also remains high, as the annual inflation rate is 8.5 percent for the 12 months ended July 2022 — the highest rate since November of 1981.