Robust Hiring Reinforces Strength of the U.S. Economy

Businesses in August shook off uncertainty related to higher gas prices, tariffs and artificial intelligence, unleashing an unexpected wave of hiring that affirmed the labor market’s health.Employers added 162,000 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis last month, the Labor Department reported on Friday, and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent.Job gains for June and July were revised upward by 55,000, bringing the average increase over the past three months to just over 70,000.

And while the health care sector fueled much of the employment growth last year, last month’s gains touched even sectors that had appeared troubled, evidence of strength in the broader economy.The zesty employment figures come at a time of broader economic resilience, marked by strong corporate profits and vigorous capital investments spurred by A.I.Consumer spending, buoyed by a roaring stock market, has stayed resilient despite higher gas prices brought on by the war in Iran.

The manufacturing and services sectors are expanding at a moderate pace.“It’s a very good report; I can’t emphasize that enough,” said Blerina Uruci, the chief U.S.economist at T.

Rowe Price.“And it perhaps shows that financial conditions more broadly are not that tight.”Much of the data in the report flashed similarly encouraging signals.

The share of people working or looking for work ticked up, reversing a monthslong skid.A separate measure that takes into account people who have been discouraged from looking for jobs or want more hours also fell to its lowest level in more than a year, indicating that many people were able to find at least some work.

The average workweek lengthened slightly to 34.4 hours, as employers stretched workers to meet demand.Puncturing the rosy notes was wage growth, which continued to cool in August.Growth in average hourly earnings fell to 3.1 percent over the past year, the slowest pace since the depths of the pandemic and lower than the inflation rate....