U.S. job growth steps up but jobless rate rises to 8.3 per cent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Employers in July hired the most workers in five months in the United States, but an increase in the jobless rate to 8.3 per cent muddled the near-term outlook for monetary policy.

Nonfarm payrolls rose 163,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, beating economists’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 100,000 gain. That snapped three straight months of job gains below 100,000 and offered hope for the struggling economy.