163,000 Jobs Added In July; Unemployment Rate Rose To 8.3 Percent

There were 163,000 more jobs on public and private payrolls last month, but the nation's unemployment rate edged up to 8.3 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics just reported.

The jobs gain was the best in five months and was much better than the revised estimated of growth for June — a gain of just 64,000 jobs.

We'll have more from the report, reactions to it and analyses as the morning continues. Click your "refresh" button to make sure you're seeing our latest updates.

Update at 8:42 a.m. ET. Job Growth Averaging Around 150,000 A Month:

According to BLS, "since the beginning of this year, employment growth has averaged 151,000 per month, about the same as the average monthly gain of 153,000 in 2011."

At that pace, however, there aren't enough new jobs being added to bring down the unemployment rate. It has stayed in a narrow range — from 8.1 percent to 8.3 percent — this year. The rate recently peaked at 10 percent in October 2009. It hasn't been below 8 percent since January 2009.

Update at 8:38 a.m. ET. June Jobs Gain Revised Down:

When BLS first reported about the month of June, it estimated there had been 80,000 jobs added to payrolls. Now, it puts the gain that month at 64,000.

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