Unemployment Rate Slumps to 4-Year Low

Katrina is Bush's fault, but not this....

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 on Friday, 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.

Friday's figures don't reflect the impact of Katrina, which slammed into New Orleans and a swath of Gulf Coast communities, because the employment information was collected before the storm hit.

The 4.9 percent unemployment rate reported for August was down a notch from July's 5 percent rate and was the lowest since August 2001.

btw don't you just love the wording"Unemployment Rate Slumps" It's known as giving a positive development a negative connotation.