Payrolls Growing as More Americans Search for Work: Economy

The U.S. economy added more than 200,000 jobs for a sixth straight month, showing progress toward sustaining faster growth entering the sixth year of expansion. The improving conditions drew more job seekers into the labor force, pushing up the unemployment rate.

The 209,000 advance in employment in July followed a 298,000 June increase that was stronger than initially reported, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. Unemployment climbed to 6.2 percent from 6.1 percent, while wages and hours were little changed from the prior month.