Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. US Unemployment Rate Rises VOA News 03 September 2010 Unemployed people use computers to search for jobs as well as telephones to seek out unemployment insurance benefits at the Nevada Job Connect Career Center in Las Vegas, 01 Sep 2010 Photo: AP Unemployed people use computers to search for jobs as well as telephones to seek out unemployment insurance benefits at the Nevada Job Connect Career Center in Las Vegas, 01 Sep 2010 The U.S. unemployment rate rose slightly in August, but non-government private employers had a net gain of 67,000 jobs. Friday's closely watched [1]report from the Labor Department says the jobless rate rose one-tenth of a percentage point to hit 9.6 percent. The overall economy, including government workers, had a net loss of 54,000 jobs. But economists say that figure is misleading because it includes thousands of temporary employees who had been hired to conduct the census and were dismissed as their work was finished. U.S. President Barack Obama called the report good news, but said the economy is not creating jobs fast enough. He is considering more steps to bolster job growth, and again urged Congress to pass legislation providing tax breaks for small businesses so they can expand and hire new workers.  Public opinion polls show many Americans are critical of Mr. Obama's handling of the economy, and his Democratic Party allies in Congress are expected to lose seats in November's election. However, it is not clear if Republicans will win enough seats to take control of the House of Representatives or Senate. Government figures show there are just under 15 million people counted as officially unemployed in the United States. More than one-third of that number have been jobless for 27 weeks or longer. Nearly nine million more people who are counted as employed are doing part-time work because they have been unable to find a full-time job. Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters. References 1. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf .