RJ and Makay

Unemployment continues to disappoint. The U.S. economy lost 54,000 jobs in August although this is better than most economist estimated.This is the third straight month of job losses. The unemployment rate rises to 9.6%.The private sector added just 67,000 jobs.There was a nice decrease in the percentage of people out of work more than 6 months.This dropped from 45% to 42%.

The unemployment rate in the Financial Activities industry is at 6.7% up from 6% in August 2009. Of the other private wage salary worker industries the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks, Financial Activities continues to be the industry with the lowest unemployment (tied with Education and Health services).