US jobs grow as diesel prices hit record before midterms

US employers added 162,000 jobs in August and the unemployment rate stayed at 4.1 percent, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday, while diesel prices hit a record ahead of US midterm elections.

The AAA motorists' association said diesel, used in road hauling, agriculture and construction, was up 55 percent since the Iran war began in late February.

The jobs report also revised June and July job gains up by a combined 55,000, indicating steady labor-market growth. Restaurants and bars added jobs, public school employment recovered after a contraction a month earlier, and health care expanded at a slower pace than its average over the past year. The information technology sector lost 23,000 jobs.

Average hourly earnings rose 3.1 percent from a year earlier, below July consumer inflation of 3.3 percent. August inflation data is due next week.

Stock markets were down after the jobs figures as attention turned to the Federal Reserve's next interest-rate meeting later in September. Several Fed policymakers have indicated they would be open to raising interest rates if August inflation data does not show a continuing downward trend, and three of the committee's 12 voting members dissented at its July meeting to call for an immediate hike.

President Donald Trump responded on Truth Social by urging the Federal Reserve to lower rates, saying the United States was a stronger credit than before and threatening to stop trading with countries with which the United States has a deficit if rates were not lowered.

Trump later told reporters that "success does not cause inflation" and "stupidity causes inflation." He said the Fed's key rate should be between 0.5 percent and 1.0 percent. The rate is currently between 3.50 percent and 3.75 percent.

Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG, told AFP the August jobs data was reassuring but warned that one month did not make a trend. She said the report suggested the labor market was "heating back up," which was welcome for workers but a concern for the Federal Reserve.

Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, said in a note that the broad gains supported her forecast for stronger third-quarter growth.