A new Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows that in August, the 20th month of the economic downturn, an additional 216,000 jobs were lost, while the unemployment rate rose to 9.7% from 9.4% in July. Some five million people — one out of every three unemployed workers — have been out of work for more than six months.

“Thanks to the Recovery Act, the pace of job loss is slowing dramatically. However, we are still losing jobs faster than we’re creating them. Hiring is not yet picking up, so unemployed workers are not able to find jobs.” said EPI economist Heidi Shierholz. Read more in today’s Jobs Picture.