Employers slashed 84,000 jobs in August and the jobless rate jumped to a five-year high of 6.1 percent, according to a government report Friday indicating weak economic conditions.

The Labor Department report — considered one of the strongest indicators of economic momentum — heralded the eighth consecutive month of shrinking nonfarm payrolls.  The result was worse than expected by economists.

The Labor Department also revised its figures from the prior two months to show a loss of 60,000 positions in July and 100,000 in June, up from earlier estimates of a drop of 51,000 in each of the two months.

The latest figures show an overall loss of 605,000 US jobs since the start of 2008, highlighting the weakness in the economy due to the housing slump which was brought about by the housing slump and credit squeeze.

The report suggests a struggling economy in which employers are cutting more jobs and reluctant to hire because of weak consumer and business confidence.

Among various sectors, manufacturing shed 61,000 jobs and construction employment dropped by 8,000. The service sector lost 27,000 jobs.

Among the sectors gaining jobs were education (55,000) and government (17,000).