Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 187,000 in August, but the unemployment rate rose to 3.8%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Sept. 8. Employment continued to trend up in health care, leisure and hospitality, social assistance, and construction. Employment in transportation and warehousing declined.

The unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage point in August, and the number of unemployed persons increased by 514,000 to 6.4 million. Both measures are little different from a year earlier, when the unemployment rate was 3.7 % and the number of unemployed persons was 6.0 million.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.7%), Whites (3.4%), and Asians (3.1%) rose in August. The jobless rates for adult women (3.2%), teenagers (12.2%), Blacks (5.3%), and Hispanics (4.9%) showed little change over the month.

Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs increased by 294,000 to 2.9 million in August, offsetting a decrease of 280,000 in July. In August, the number of new entrants edged up to 597,000.

In August, the labor force participation rate rose by 0.2 percentage point to 62.8%, after being flat since March. The employment-population ratio was unchanged over the month at 60.4%.

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons, at 4.2 million, changed little in August. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs.