U.S. Lost Jobs in August, but Fewer Than Expected

American businesses added more jobs in the last three months than originally estimated, but the wheels of the economic recovery are still spinning in place.

The private sector added 67,000 jobs in August, according to the Labor Department. That was higher than consensus forecasts, and the government upwardly revised its numbers for June and July, suggesting that job creation was slightly stronger over the summer than originally reported.

But the continuing wind-down of the 2010 Census, as well as state and local government layoffs, led to an overall loss of 54,000 jobs in August.

With businesses adding about half the number of positions needed simply to accommodate population growth — much less dent the ranks of the jobless — the unemployment rate ticked up to 9.6 percent, from 9.5 percent.

“The overall picture is one where the labor market is still kind of treading water,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief United States economist at MFR Inc. “It’s better than sinking, but it’s certainly not surging ahead.”

Given the continuing addition of private jobs, albeit at a tepid pace, Friday’s monthly snapshot of the labor market seemed to calm fears of a double-dip recession. But the numbers are likely to do little to assuage political pressure on the Obama administration in the run-up to the midterm elections.

Speaking from the White House Rose Garden on Friday morning, Mr. Obama called the latest job report “positive news,” but said he would be unveiling “a broader package of ideas next week,” to shore up the flagging economy, although he declined to give specifics. The president once again urged Congress to pass a stalled bill that would offer tax breaks to small businesses and create a $30 billion program to encourage community banks to lend.

“There’s no quick fix for this recession,” he said. “The hard truth is that it took years to create our current economic problems, and it will take more time than any of us would like to repair the damage.”

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Navy Building’s Next Tenant Has Paris Guessing

PARIS — The building where Marie Antoinette’s death certificate was signed, and from whose balcony her execution by guillotine was witnessed, may soon be up for grabs.

The building, the massive Hôtel de la Marine, sits on what is now the Place de la Concorde, one of the choicest and most expensive bits of land in Paris. It has been the operational headquarters of the French Navy and its top command since 1789, when revolutionary mobs pushed King Louis XVI from Versailles and forced him to Paris.

But France is building a modern military headquarters in southwest Paris, and the navy is expected to leave the Hôtel de la Marine by 2015. The old building’s fate has not been decided, and it has become something of a parlor game here to suggest uses for its 215,000 square feet and 553 rooms.

“The navy has been here for 220 years,” said Olivier Laurens, 63, a vice admiral now working in the Department of Naval Heritage, escorting a reporter on a rare visit to the building. “There is nostalgia, of course. But we are greatly attached to this building and wish to see it preserved.”

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Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes on Bankruptcy, Netflix, and Becoming the Next Apple

While it may feel like an all out tug-of-war between Blockbuster and Netflix, don't forget they aren't the only companies battling for market share. Redbox is fighting for kiosk space. Apple, Amazon, and Comcast are competing for movie download purchases. And Hulu will soon start its subscription-based service. Blockbuster is trying to fend off all these competitors, even as the company is mired in debt.

We spoke again with the company's CEO, Jim Keyes, to get his take on Netflix's recent comments with Fast Company ( Click here for our first interview with the the Blockbuster chief, in case you missed it). Keyes spoke with us about how he's using the company's 28-day distribution advantage to Blockbuster's favor; the ways he's trying to turn the video-rental giant around, Steve Jobs-style; and why bankruptcy isn't interfering with the company's plans for success.

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