US jobs growth proved sluggish in August, as doubts mounted over whether the Federal Reserve would be able to stick to its timetable for further interest rate rises.

The world's biggest economy added 156,000 jobs last month, according to official data, missing Wall Street expectations for a 180,000 increase, in what marked the weakest growth in three months.

Hourly earnings increased 0.1pc, below the 0.3pc rise recorded for July, and the country's unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4pc from the 16-year low it hit in July of 4.3pc.

Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West, said the report was "a little bit of a disappointment".

"The labour market is doing fine but not quite as strong as people thought going into this number... this probably raises the odds the Fed doesn't go ahead with a December rate hike."

The US central bank is expected to hike interest rates one more time in 2017, on top of two earlier rises this year. It is also expected to start unwinding its $4.2 trillion (£3.2 trillion) balance sheet in the coming months.