The U.S. added 13,000 temporary help services jobs in August, and the penetration rate — temporary jobs as a percent of total employment — rose to set another record at 2.08 percent, according to seasonally adjusted data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Year-over-year growth in temporary jobs remained high at 8.01 percent in August, though that growth has been decelerating.

Looking at total employment across industries in August, the U.S. added 142,000 jobs — below the 212,000 added in July based on revised data. MarketWatch reports the increase was the smallest gain since December 2013 and fell well short of the 228,000 gain forecast by its poll of economists.

The unemployment rate edged down to 6.1 percent in August from 6.2 percent in July. The college-level unemployment rate edged up to 3.2 percent in August from 3.1 percent in July.

“A gain of only 142,000 new jobs in August, relative to a stronger trend in hiring in previous months of over 200,000 new jobs per month, is somewhat surprising as the economy overall has been quite strong recently,” according to commentary by The Conference Board. “Retail employment has dropped, which may relate to weaker consumption figures in the past month. Still, most likely this was just a one off. For example, some leading indicators, such as part-time employment for economic reasons, dropped. Also, unemployment continued its downward path, closing in on the 5.5 percent natural unemployment rate we expect in 2015.”

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