By CountingPips.com
U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls data released today showed that jobs declined by less than expected in August as the private-sector added jobs and government hiring continued to decline. The Department of Labor nonfarm payrolls report showed that U.S. payrolls lost 54,000 jobs in August and the unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percent to 9.6 percent. August was the third straight month that the nonfarm payroll report has declined although private companies have continued to add workers for eight straight months. According to the report, private payrolls have added 763,000 workers since 
December of 2009.
July’s employment data was revised downwards to a loss of 54,000 jobs after originally showing a decline of 131,000 and follows a revised decline of 175,000 jobs lost in June.
The August report came in better than the market forecasts that were expecting a loss of approximately 105,000 jobs and matched the expectations that the unemployment rate would reach 9.6 percent.
The decline in jobs was led by the loss of 114,000 temporary census government workers in August as government hiring decreased by 121,000 jobs overall. This follows decreases in government hiring in July by 161,000 workers and in June by 236,000 workers.
The goods producing sector saw no change in employment levels for August. Manufacturing lost 27,000 jobs in August after gaining for the last two months and motor vehicles and parts dropped by 22,000 jobs. The construction sector added 19,000 jobs for the month after declining by 4,000 jobs in July.
The service-providing sector created 67,000 total jobs in August with education and health services adding 45,000 workers while professional and business services also added 20,000 jobs. Retail trade lost approximately 5,000 jobs for the month while transporting and warehousing declined by approximately 7,500 workers.
U.S. Dollar mostly weaker today in Forex Trading. Stocks advance.
The U.S. dollar has been mostly weaker in forex trading today against the other major currencies following the employment report. The euro, British pound, New Zealand dollar, Australian dollar and Canadian dollar have all gained ground versus the American currency today while the Swiss franc and Japanese yen have been trading lower.
The US stock markets, meanwhile, have been trading higher today with the Dow Jones industrial average increasing by over 60 points, the NASDAQ up by over 15 points and the S&P 500 higher by over 7 points at time of writing.
Oil has declined by $1.32 to the $73.70 level while gold has fallen by $10.70 dollars to trade at the $1240.80 level.
