Unemployment Drops to Four-Year Low Rate of 4.9%

mployers added 169,000 workers to payrolls in August and the unemployment rate fell to 4.9%, a four-year low, from 5% in July, the Labor Department said Friday.

The jobs gain follows a gain of 242,000 in July (previously reported at 207,000) and was just short of analysts’ estimates of 190,000 new jobs in August, Bloomberg reported.

Because employment levels drive so much economic activity, an increase in employment can help consumer confidence and spending patterns, which affect trucking demand.

Manufacturing employment fell by 14,000 jobs and service service-industry employment, which includes retailers, banks and government agencies, rose by 156,000 following a gain of 240,000 in July, Labor said.

Among the service industry numbers, employment was led by gains of 25,000 jobs in construction and 11,800 at retailers.

The manufacturing workweek was unchanged at 40.5 hours, while overtime also held steady at 4.5 hours.