U.S. job growth short of expectation, unemployment ticks down in August

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. employers added fewer-than-expected 142,000 jobs in August, as unemployment rate edged down to 4.2 percent, signaling that the labor market continues to cool, the U.S. Labor Department reported Friday.

Job gains occurred in construction and health care, according to the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Construction employment rose by 34,000 in August, hig