U.S. employers add 142K jobs in August

As nonfarm payroll employment increased by 142,000 jobs in August, the national unemployment rate ticked down a tenth of a point to 6.1 percent.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics today reported job gains in professional and business services, as well as the health care industry, according to a news release.

August payroll gains fell short of an average monthly increase of 212,000 jobs during the past year.

Last month, professional and business services added 47,000 jobs, increasing its new job count to 639,000 in the past 12 months. Within the industry, 23,000 jobs were added in administrative and support services during August, management of companies and enterprises rose by 8,000 jobs, architectural and engineering employers added 3,000 jobs, and management and technical consulting services increased its ranks by 3,000, according to the release.

The health care industry saw an increase of 34,000 jobs last month. Leading the way was social assistance, which added 9,000 jobs in August. Elsewhere in the industry, physicians' offices added 8,000 jobs, followed closely by a 7,000-job increase in hospitals.

The BLS reports the number of unemployed in the country was roughly flat in August at 9.6 million. The number of people working part-time for economic reasons was roughly flat at 7.3 million, and those marginally attached to the workforce - not working but available and looking - dropped by 201,000 to 2.1 million, according to the release.