U.S. Added Just 22K Jobs in August as Unemployment Rate Rose to 4.3%

The employment situation in the U.S. continued to show softness last month, likely sealing the deal for a rate cut at the Federal Reserve's upcoming meeting in mid-September.Nonfarm payrolls rose by 22,000 in August, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Friday morning. That was shy of economist forecasts for 75,000 and July's 79,000 (revised from an originally reported 73,000). Alongside July's 6,000 job upward revision, June's number was revised lower by 27,000 to a negative 13,000 in what would have been the first negative monthly jobs print since the Covid lockdowns of 2020.The unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, in line with forecasts and up from July's 4.2%.Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% for the month and 3.7% year-over-year,…