U.S. jobs report weak in August, Canada’s is strong

(Sept. 7, 2012) -- A total of 96,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy in August, a big drop from the 141,000 added in July. The unemployment rate, however, dropped from 8.3 to 8.1 percent after a government slight of hand that removed 368,000 workers from the labor force because they had been unemployed too long and were presumed to have given up looking for work. In Canada, 34,300 jobs were added, which beat forecasts for 10,000 new positions.