BLS News Release: “Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 173,000 in August, and the unemployment rate edged down to 5.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics  reported today. Job gains occurred in health care and social assistance and in financial activities. Manufacturing and mining lost jobs. Household Survey Data – In August, the unemployment rate edged down to 5.1 percent, and the number of  unemployed persons edged down to 8.0 million. Over the year, the unemployment  rate and the number of unemployed persons were down by 1.0 percentage point and 1.5 million, respectively. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for whites declined to 4.4 percent in August. The rates for adult men (4.7 percent), adult women (4.7 percent), teenagers (16.9 percent), blacks (9.5 percent), Asians (3.5 percent), and Hispanics (6.6 percent) showed little change in August.”