The U.S. economy added 201,000 jobs in August, the Labor Department said on Friday, continuing its nearly eight-year streak of monthly gains. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at a very low 3.9 percent.
The jobs data topped economists’ estimates: Bloomberg had put the median projected gain at 191,000 jobs, while the MarketWatch median forecast stood at 200,000.
Wage growth — and more specifically the lack of vigorous pay raises — continued to be an issue in the report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with average hourly earnings nudging slightly upward to 2.9 percent annual growth from July’s 2.7 percent.
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