WASH­ING­TON-Jobs growth slowed sharply in Au­gust, set­ting the stage for the Fed­er­al Re­serve to pump ad­di­tion­al mon­ey in­to the slug­gish econ­o­my next week and deal­ing a blow to Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma as he seeks re-elec­tion.

Non-farm pay­rolls in­creased on­ly 96,000 last month, the Labour De­part­ment said on yes­ter­day, be­low what would nor­mal­ly be need­ed to put a dent in the job­less rate. While the un­em­ploy­ment rate did drop to 8.1 per cent from 8.3 per cent in Ju­ly, that was on­ly be­cause many Amer­i­cans gave up the hunt for work. The sur­vey of house­holds from which the job­less rate is de­rived ac­tu­al­ly showed a drop in em­ploy­ment.

Reuters