Few jobs added in August, many of them low-paying

[September 08, 2012]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Numerous industries added jobs last month. But they didn't add many. And the jobs they filled weren't necessarily well-paying ones.

For example, one of the biggest hiring gains was in the generally low-paying restaurant industry, which added 28,300 jobs. Another, retailers, added 6,100.

Health care expanded 17,000 positions. This category includes both higher-paying positions, like nurses, and lower-paying ones, such as home health aides.

Manufacturing jobs, which usually pay above-average wages, fell 15,000. It was the biggest monthly drop in two years. The mining and logging industry, which includes oil and gas drilling, shed 2,000 jobs.

Lower-paying jobs are likely to predominate when unemployment is high, economists say. That's because more of the unemployed are desperate and willing to fill those positions.

[Associated Press; By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER]

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