Labor Department reports US economy added 162K jobs in August, exceeding Wall Street expectations

The Labor Department announced Friday that the U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in August, far exceeding Wall Street expectations.

According to the Dow Jones consensus, the number of nonfarm payroll jobs was expected to increase by 53,000 last month, CNBC reports.

The unemployment rate for last month held at 4.1%, according to the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics's monthly jobs report.