Job-loss pace slower than expected

The U.S. economy shed 54,000 nonfarm jobs in August, the Labor Department reported Friday, a much slower decline than economists anticipated as the health-care and temporary-staffing industries led a 67,000 expansion in private-sector employment. Though the employment report broadly painted a picture of sputtering economic growth, the payrolls decline in August wasn't as steep as the 105,000 payroll subtraction expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch and eroded market fears of a double-dip recession.