WASHINGTON — The unemployment rate jumped almost half a point to 9.7 percent in August, the highest since 1983, reflecting a poor job market that will make it hard for the economy to begin a sustained recovery.

While the jobless rate rose more than expected, the economy shed a net total of 216,000 jobs, less than July's revised 276,000 and the fewest monthly losses in a year, according to Labor Department data released yesterday. Economists expected the unemployment rate to rise to 9.5 percent from July's 9.4 percent and job reductions to total 225,000.

By contrast, in a healthy economy, employers need to add a net total of around 125,000 jobs a month just to keep the unemployment rate stable.

"It's good to see the rate of job losses slow down," said Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight. But "we're still on track here to hit 10 percent (unemployment) before we're done."

BOEING WINS ROUND IN TRADE FIGHT WITH AIRBUS

WASHINGTON — The World Trade Organization ruled that billions of dollars in aid that European governments gave to aerospace giant Airbus constitutes illegal subsidies, rendering a long-awaited legal victory for U.S. rival Boeing.

The two aerospace companies have been warring for years over what kinds of government support should be legal and what kind should be deemed an unfair advantage in their global competition.

While the ruling is preliminary and a full resolution of the issues is months away, Boeing officials and their supporters in Congress called it a critical vindication.

5 MORE BANKS CLOSED, PUSHING '09 TOTAL TO 89

NEW YORK — Regulators yesterday shut down banks in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and Arizona, pushing to 89 the number of banks that have failed this year under the weight of the soured economy and rising loan defaults.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over First Bank of Kansas City, based in Kansas City, Mo., with $16 million in assets and $15 million in deposits and shut down Sioux City, Iowa-based Vantus Bank with $458 million in assets and $368 million in deposits.

The FDIC seized two banks in Illinois; Oak Forest-based InBank, with $212 million in assets and $199 million in deposits and Platinum Community Bank in Rolling Meadows, which had $346 million in assets and $305 million in deposits.

LEADING ECONOMISTS CAUTIOUS ON RECOVERY

CERNOBBIO, Italy — As the world's top finance officials gathered yesterday in London, an assembly of top business leaders and economists echoed the cautious but spreading optimism of politicians — while warning against prematurely celebrating the end of the world's economic woes.

Among the concerns aired at the Ambrosetti Forum were that a winding down of government stimulus plans might not meet rebounding consumer demand, sparking a double-dip recession, and that lasting consumer weakness in the West might not be made up by new demand from emerging markets.