The US unemployment rate jumped to 9.7 percent in August as 216,000 jobs were lost, the government said Friday in a report showing improving labor market conditions.

The jobless rate rose three-tenths of a point to the highest since June 1983, but the data nonetheless showed an easing of the massive pace of job losses in an economy struggling to emerge from recession.

The Labor Department report, seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum, showed job losses narrowed considerably. Revised rate showed 276,000 jobs lost in July and 463,000 in June, higher than prior estimates of 247,00 and 443,000, respectively.