Bureau of Labor Statistics

The U.S. labor market showed signs of strain in August, with job growth slowing to a crawl and unemployment climbing to its highest level in nearly four years. The economy added just 22,000 jobs last month, a sharp deceleration from earlier gains, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3% from 4.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Revisions to previous months painted a similarly sobering picture. June’s employment numbers were adjusted downward to show a loss of 13,000 jobs, marking the first negative month since December 2020 and ending what had been the second-longest period of continuous employment …