America's unemployment rate increased to 4.8 percent in July, the highest level in five months, the Labor Department reported on Friday.

U.S. employers created just 113,000 new jobs in July following a gain of 124,000 in the previous month. The gain was the lowest since May when payrolls grew by 100,000.

Economists had forecast a gain of around 145,000 jobs in June and expected the unemployment rate would remain unchanged at 4.6 percent.

The report showed that manufacturers in the country shed 15,000 jobs in July while employment in retailing was flat.

Meanwhile, workers' average hourly earnings rose to 16.76 dollars in July, 0.4 percent higher than in June.

Analysts said the that latest report added to the evidence from a variety of economic barometers that the U.S. economy is slowing and inflation is rising.

Source: Xinhua