President Trump told a campaign rally in Montana Thursday the election is about "safety and jobs." (Photo: Screen capture)

(Correction: The original headline said that the African-American unemployment rate in August was the lowest ever; in fact, 6.3% is the second lowest rate on record for African-Americans.)

(CNSNews.com) - The midterm election is about "safety and jobs," President Trump told a campaign rally in Montana Thursday night. He said the economy is "booming like never before," and on Friday, the unemployment report brought the president more good news: the unemployment rate for African Americans, 6.3 percent, is the second lowest on record (it was 5.9 percent in May); and job-growth remains strong.

For Hispanics, the unemployment rate increased two-tenths of a point from last month's record low of 4.5 percent. And the overall unemployment rate remained at a low 3.9 percent.

The number of jobs added -- 201,000 -- exceeded analysts' expectations. (After revisions, job gains have averaged 185,000 for each of the last three months.)

After three straight record-setting months, the number of employed Americans dropped by 423,000 in August, to 155,542,000 from last month's all-time high of 155,965,000. This number has set 11 records since Donald Trump took office.

In August, the nation’s civilian noninstitutionalized population, consisting of all people age 16 or older who were not in the military or an institution, reached 258,066,000. Of those, 161,776,000 participated in the labor force by either holding a job or actively seeking one.

The 161,776,000 who participated in the labor force equaled 62.7 percent of the 258,066,000 civilian noninstitutionalized population, slightly below last month's 62.9 percent participation rate.

The participation rate remains stubbornly low as a growing number of people leave the labor force, led by baby-boom retirees.

BLS noted that the percentage of Americans not in the labor force -- meaning they neither have a job nor are looking for one -- increased to a record 96,290,000 in August.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.5 percent), adult women (3.6 percent), teenagers (12.8 percent), Whites (3.4 percent), and Asians (3.0 percent) showed little or no change in August.



And there's positive news on wage growth: In August, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 10 cents to $27.16. Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 77 cents, or 2.9 percent.