U.S. employers cut 216,000 workers in August as the unemployment rate rose to 9.7%, a 26-year high, the Labor Department reported Friday.
Since the recession started in December 2007, the economy has shed 6.9 million and the unemployment rate has grown by 4.8 percentage points.
The unemployment rate has reached the highest level since June 1983 when it was 10.1%
Economist polled by Thomson Reuters expected employers to cut 225,000 jobs and for the unemployment rate to increase to 9.5%, according to the median estimates.
Job losses in the previous two months were revised higher. Employers cut 463,000 jobs in July from a previously reported decline of 443,000.
Employers cut 276,000 workers in June from a previously reported drop of 247,000.
Job losses in manufacturing have lessened since the first half of the year. Employers cut 63,000 manufacturing jobs in August and 43,000 in July.
Education and health service employers were the only sector to add jobs in August, increasing employment by 52,000. Health care has added 544,000 jobs since the start of the recession.
The federal government cut 5,000 workers.
State and local government employment, which accounts for about 15% of nonfarm employment, cut 5,000 and 8,000 jobs, respectively.
Average hourly earnings increased 0.3% in August and 2.6% from a year ago. The average work week was 33.1 hours, the same as in July but down from 33.7 a year ago.
Economists estimated workers’ average hourly earnings would increase 0.1% in August and for the average work week to be 33.1 hours, according to the median estimate.
