August unemployment report shows small change for Latinos

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

The Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning released its employment report for the month August.

The total nonfarm payroll employment for the nation increased by 173,000 jobs, which was less than expected by economists. The unemployment rate, though, edged down to 5.1 percent, and that was received as somewhat good news, being that the July number was 5.3.

For Latinos the unemployment rate settled at 6.6 percent, which is better than July’s 6.8. In real numbers this means that there were 1.73 million unemployed Latinos in August, compared to 1.78 million in July.

The number of discouraged workers, overall, was 642,000. These are people who have given up looking for work.

The biggest jump in employment was in education and health services, with 62,000 new jobs, followed by healthcare, with 56,400 jobs added, and the retail trade, which added 11,200 jobs.