Unemployment was 4.9 percent, unchanged from the previous two months. | Getty Economy added 151,000 jobs in August

The economy added 151,000 jobs in August, the Labor Department reported Friday, down from 275,000 in July.

Unemployment was 4.9 percent, unchanged from the previous two months. Average private sector earnings were up 3 cents. In July, they were up 8 cents.


House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said in a written statement that August's "modest pace of job creation, coupled with declining productivity last quarter, means that growth in our economy and our paychecks will continue to lag as Americans get weighed down by the rising costs of health care, housing, and college."

But Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, emphasized in a blog post that in 2016 job growth "has averaged a solid 182,000 jobs a month, well above the pace of about 80,000 jobs a month needed to maintain a low and stable unemployment rate," and that private-sector wages "have increased at an annual rate of 2.8 percent, much faster than the pace of inflation."

Jeff Kleintop, chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab, told CNBC that August job growth was "a below-average number" that indicated "the job market is OK" but that an interest-a rate hike later this month by the Federal Reserve was likely "off the table."

Analysts had predicted the creation of about 175,000 jobs, an unemployment rate of 4.8 percent and an increase in hourly earnings of 0.2 percent.

The jobs report followed news from the Commerce Department last week that GDP increased 1.1 percent during the second quarter of 2016, below an initial estimate of 1.2 percent but higher than the first quarter’s 0.8 percent. Real GDP grew 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015. The Commerce Department’s third cut at estimating second quarter growth for 2016 will be released Sept. 29.

Labor force participation was unchanged at 62.8 percent, close to its lowest level since the 1970s.

