Unemployment rate falls to 4.9 percent in August

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Friday, Sept. 2, 2005 | 9:35 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The nation's unemployment rate dipped to a four-year low of 4.9 percent in August as companies added 169,000 jobs, a sign that the labor market continued to gain traction before Hurricane Katrina struck.

The latest snapshot of the United States' jobs climate, released by the Labor Department today, buttressed observations by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues that the hiring situation was gradually improving -- a bit of good news for workers as they headed into the Labor Day weekend.

But the future of the nation's employment picture is murky -- clouded by fallout from the devastating hurricane.