Hiring strengthened in July

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added 163,000 jobs in July, a hopeful sign after three months of sluggish hiring. The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent from 8.2 percent in June. July’s hiring was the best since February. Still, the economy has added an average of 151,000 jobs a month this year — enough to keep up with population growth but not enough to drive down the unemployment rate. “After a string of disappointing economic reports … we’ll certainly take it,” said James Marple, senior economist at TD Economics. Stocks rose sharply in early trading. The Dow Jones industrial average added 165 points to 13,044, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 18 points to 1,383.