Jobless Rate At 6.1%, 9.4M Unemployed Americans As Of August

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics said the country's unemployment rate was at 6.1 percent in August, a .04 percent increase from July's 5.7 percent.

According to the New York Times, August's jobless rate was the highest since 2003. The steady rise in unemployment is one that many economists associate with recession, it added.

For the eighth straight month, the country's employers shed 84,000 jobs bringing to a total of 605,000 jobs lost since January. Jobless Americans rose by 592,000 to 9.4 million.

The labor bureau has also revised its figures for the months of June and July as additional 58,000 jobs were lost in those months.

Most of the people affected by unemployment rolls in August were adults, over the age of 45. But among those added into America's unemployed included almost as many college graduates as those with only a high school degree.

Manufacturing laid off 61,000 jobs, mostly at auto plants and in housing-related industries. There were also sharp cuts in the employment of temporary and hourly and weekly wage workers.