Unemployment Rate

: The Labor Department said on Friday the economy added 173,000 jobs in August, less than the market expected 223,000, but the previous two months' job gains were revised upward, thus pushing the unemployment rate down, according to Xinhua China. The Labor Department revised July job gains up to 245,000 from its previous estimate of 215,000, while June data was revised up to 245,000 from 231,000. The U.S. unemployment rate in August dropped more than expected to 5.1 percent, the lowest since April 2008 and at the level the U.S. central bank sees as full employment, where the unemployment rate is between 5 percent and 5.2 percent. After revisions, employment gains in June and July combined were 44,000 more than previously reported. It was the last major jobs data before the Federal Open Market Committee , the Fed policy arm, meets on Sept. 16-17 to mull raising the key federal funds rate for the first time since 2006. Over the past three months, job gains have averaged 221,000 per month. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.