Feb 06, 2012 | 12:27 PM

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US Unemployment rate rises to 9.6% in August

U.S. unemployment rate rose to 9.6% in August, reflecting business reluctance to hire amid uncertain economic prospect, the Labor Department reported on Friday. Nonfarm payroll employment declined by 54,000 last month, primarily caused by a decrease of 114,000 in the number of temporary workers hired for the decennial census. Private-sector payroll employment edged up by 67,000. July's payroll loss was revised downward to 54,000 from initially reported 131,000. Nearly 8.5M jobs have been lost since the start of the recession in December 2007, and economists don't expect those losses to be recovered any time soon considering the severity of the recession and the lackluster of the recovery. The rise in jobless rate in August, the first in four months, reflected an increase in the number of job-seekers. 550,000 Americans resumed their job searches last month, according to the report. When the unemployed stop looking for work, they are no longer counted in the jobless rate. Manufacturing, which has been a flash spot during the recovery, shed 27,000 jobs last month, after adding 34,000 in July. Construction companies added 19,000 employees in August, compared with a decline of 4,000 in the prior month. "Incoming data on the labor market have remained disappointing," Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said in a recent speech at the Fed annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. "Firms are reluctant to add permanent employees, citing slow growth of sales and elevated economic and regulatory uncertainty," he said. "In lieu of adding permanent workers, some firms have increased labor input by increasing workweeks, offering full-time work to part-time workers, and making extensive use of temporary workers." Economists believe that recovery needs to accelerate to drive down jobless rate. US economic growth was revised downward to an annual rate of 1.6% in the quarter ended in June, compared to the initially estimated pace of 2.4%, the Commerce Department reported last week. This is the