Job Grow In August

[jeffrey]

U.S. businesses created 144,000 jobs in August, as the unemployment rate dipped to 5.4% the government said Friday, in a report indicating the economy moving beyond this summer's doldrums ? but still not creating jobs fast enough to keep up with demand.

"A sigh of relief is the best way to describe the August jobs number," said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo. "To be sure, the economy has begun to fly again, but is having difficulty gaining altitude, pitching and rolling along the path."

President Bush, who is politically vulnerable on economic issues according to public opinion polls, hailed the broad-based increases in manufacturing, construction and services employment as a sign business is back on track.

Returning to the campaign trail after accepting his party's presidential nomination Thursday night, Bush told a crowd in Pennsylvania that "Our growing economy is spreading prosperity and opportunity, and nothing will hold us back."

Administration officials noted that the Labor Department had revised the July numbers to show a 73,000 job gain, a mediocre number but far better than the 32,000 originally reported. June numbers were also revised up from 78,000 to 96,000. The economy has created 1.7 million jobs since last August, but the pace of growth has slowed since the spring... [read more at usatoday.com]