The steady rise in U.S. payrolls topping 200,000 jobs a month has ended. The Labor Department reported Friday that employers added just 142,000 jobs in August -- far below expectations for 225,000 and the average 212,000 monthly gain over the past year. The unemployment rate ticked lower, to 6.1% from 6.2%.

"The payroll number was quite a disappointment," says Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS. But he says the weakness wasn't universal -- "basically in retail and little bit in autos; the rest of the sectors of the economy added jobs" -- and the decline was "a little fluky." He cites the 17,000 jobs cut from supermarket chain Market Basket, which is expected to be temporary. (Employees went on strike in support of an ousted CEO who was subsequently reinstated.)

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There was some good news in the latest jobs report, says Behravesh. In addition to the dip in the unemployment rate was a 30% drop in the number of long-term unemployed to 3.1 million. Also, average hourly earnings rose six cents to $24.53 per hour, but the average workweek was unchanged at 34.5 hours and the labor participation rate, which measures the share of the working age population that's working or looking for work, was little changed.

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The latest jobs report could affect Fed policy. Fed Chair Janet Yellen has said the Fed could raise rates sooner than expected "if progress in the labor market continues to be more rapid than anticipated," but that was clearly not the case today.

The jobs report "will strengthen Janet Yellen's hand in terms of waiting longer to raise rates," says Behravesh. It could delay a rate hike to September or October 2015 instead of June 2015, which had been talked about, says Behravesh. The Fed has maintained short-term rates near zero since December 2008. Long-term bond rates remain low as well, with the 10-year Treasury bond yield trading near 2.4% for most of the past month.



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