The latest jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor on Friday shows only 142,000 jobs were added last month, breaking a six-month pattern of hiring at least 200,000 people a month.

The unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent in August, meaning either that former workers exhausted their insurance benefits, or they stopped looking for work -- 9.6 million people are unemployed. Adding in those underemployed, those with part-time work but wanting full-time work, the figure is 19 million people unemployed and underemployed.

The unemployment rate was 5.3 percent for whites (0.9 percentage points higher than at the start of the recession), 11.4 percent for African-Americans (2.4 percentage points higher than at the start of the recession), and 7.5 percent for Hispanics or Latinos (1.2 percentage points higher than at the start of the recession).

Private employers added only 134,000 jobs in August, while overall government employment rose by 8,000.

In an analysis on the jobs report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Chief Economist Chad Stone said, "The recession drove many people out of the labor force, and lack of job opportunities in the ongoing jobs slump kept many potential jobseekers on the sidelines and not counted in the official unemployment rate. This problem was evident in August. Unemployment dropped by 80,000 people, but employment increased by only 16,000 people, while the labor force shrank by 64,000 people."

Stone added, "As a result of the decline in the labor force, the labor force participation rate (the share of the population aged 16 and over in the labor force) edged down to 62.8 percent in August. While labor force participation is no longer declining, as it did in 2013, it remains at levels last seen in 1978."

Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez said in a statement on the employment numbers that businesses has added more than 10 million jobs over the last four and a half years.

"While I remain optimistic about where our economy is headed, there are still 3 million long-term unemployed Americans and we can do more to help those who are still struggling to recover. ... [W]e need Congress to put politics aside and work with our partners. We need to raise the national minimum wage, which has remained stagnant since 2009. We need to extend emergency unemployment benefits so the long-term unemployed can continue to pay their bills and put food on the table while they look for work. We need to help working families by addressing outdated workplace policies," said Perez.

The Obama administration has issued an executive order to raise the minimum wage for private-sector workers hired under federal contracts.

On Thursday in cities across the U.S., hundreds of fast food workers -- employees of McDonald's, Burger King and KFC -- protested low pay and demanding it be raised to $15 dollars an hour to keep up with the cost of living. Many fast food workers earn $7.25 an hour before taxes.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said, "Today's disappointing report, coupled with last week's bleak economic forecast from the Congressional Budget Office, shows a pattern of weakness in the Obama economy that has too many Americans still asking, 'where are the jobs?' Republicans have listened to the American and advanced solutions to help create more jobs, lower costs at home, and restore opportunity for all Americans. ... Americans are suffering the consequences of Senate Democrats' inaction, and they deserve better."