Despite job creation numbers coming in slightly below expectations, unemployment in the United States fell to 5.1 percent in August, beating estimates and falling to its lowest point in more than half a decade. Economists polled by MarketWatch had anticipated a achieve of 213,000 nonfarm jobs. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 173,000 jobs for the month, down from the 12-month average of 247,000 job s gained per month. June’s achieve was revised as much as 245,000 from 231,000.

Treasuries may have benefited from their role as a safe haven, as the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report offered mixed data, adding to recent uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.

Wage gains – an important indicator for inflation – remained muted, rising eight cents an hour to $25.09 from July, up 2.2 percent from a year ago. The number fell by 97,000, from 59.3 million in July to 59.2 million in August, BLS data released Friday shows.

Health care and social assistance added 56,000 jobs in August.

At 5.1% the unemployment rate, means down from 5.3% in June and July. Over the past year, the number of long-term unemployed people is down by 779,000.

Another category not counted in the national unemployment rate are the 1.8 million persons who are considered marginally attached to the labor force.

Discouraged workers, the segment of marginally attached workers who are not looking for jobs because they don’t expect to find them, also declined over the past year, by 151,000. There were 124,314,000 native-born workers employed in August, which was down 698,000 from the month before.

Not counted in August’s national unemployment rate are 6.5 million involuntary part time workers.