Unemployment Rises to 9.7 Percent; 216,000 Jobs Lost in August - washingtonpost.com

Unemployment Rises to 9.7 Percent; 216,000 Jobs Lost in August - washingtonpost.com: "The job market continued its long, steep decline in August, with the jobless rate soaring to 9.7 percent and employers continuing to shed jobs, albeit at a slower rate than expected."

Analysts generally believe that economic output began rising by late summer. But new Labor Department data released Friday morning shows that that improvement isn't yet flowing through to the job market, as employers remain highly reluctant to add staff.

The rise in the unemployment rate rose to 9.7 percent in August, from 9.4 percent in July, resumed a steep upward path that has been only rarely interrupted since the recession began in December 2007. Employers shed 216,000 net jobs, significantly better than the revised 276,000 jobs lost in July and less than the 230,000 decline that forecasters expected.