Captain Failure's speech last night about the sinking ship.... did you feel a tingle? Go ahead and celebrate. The nation is taking notice. The Link U.S. job growth slowed in August, signaling a stalling economy that could mute any post-convention momentum for President Barack Obama and spur the Federal Reserve to take further steps to stimulate the economy. Nonfarm employment was up by a seasonally adjusted 96,000 and figures for the previous two months were revised down, the Labor Department said Friday. The report portrayed a sluggish economy that continues to move sideways, leaving few opportunities for the nation's 12.5 million unemployed. The unemployment rate—which is politically salient and comes from a separate survey than the jobs data—fell to 8.1% from 8.3%. That was because an estimated 368,000 people gave up looking for work. Throughout this year, the unemployment rate has bounced between 8.1% and 8.3%. Meantime, the labor force participation rate, which is the share of the population that is working or looking for work, fell to its lowest level since 1981.
