The August jobs report showed weaker hiring overall as continued strength in the service sectors struggled to offset anemic manufacturing gains and losses in the mining and extraction industry.
The Labor Department's report also notes that an unusual swell of government hiring — the second-best performer in term of net jobs gains in August — stemmed from the employment of temporary workers tasked with conducting the 2020 census.
The government reported Friday that payrolls increased 130,000 during the month, 20,000 below the 150,000 economists polled by Dow Jones had forecast. The government also said wages increased at a solid clip, up 0.4% in August and 3.2% over the year.
CNBC studied the net changes by industry for August jobs based on data from the Labor Department contained in the employment report.
The professional and business sector — a consistent employment juggernaut over the last year — topped the list in August with a net gain of 37,000 payrolls, just shy of the 38,000 clinched in July. Health care and social services, another key area of job growth including ambulatory outpatient care, hospitals and nursing, and also education, added 32,000.
The government, which doesn't tend to post big employment swings from month to month, added a hefty 34,000 positions in August thanks to the hiring of temporary workers ahead of the 2020 census.
"In August, employment in federal government rose, largely reflecting the hiring of temporary workers for the 2020 Census. Private-sector employment was up by 96,000, with notable job gains in health care and financial activities and a job loss in mining.," the Labor Department said in a release.
Retail trade continued its streak of losses with a decline of 11,100 jobs for the month, bringing its 12-month swoon to 84,000.
The mining and logging sector lost 5,000 jobs as a declines in metal ore mining, nonmetallic mineral mining and associated positions all slipped.
