Russia to keep helping Syria if it's attacked

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — President Vladimir Putin says Russia will continue helping Syria even if it comes under attack.

Putin, speaking at Friday's briefing after the Group of 20 summit, answered with a firm "we will" when asked if Russia will keep providing assistance to Syria if it's attacked.

He added that Russia has been supplying weapons to Syria and maintaining economic cooperation.

Putin said that Russia intends to increase its humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people after more than two years of hostilities.

Putin and his officials have previously said that Moscow has no intention of engaging in the conflict.

However, Russia has increased its naval presence in the Mediterranean, which the Kremlin's chief of staff said could help Russia evacuate its citizens from Syria if necessary.

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Labor force numbers drop to lowest in 35 years

Labor force participation fell to 63.2 percent, its lowest percentage since August 1978, according to new numbers released by the Labor Department today.

The U.S. economy added just 169,000 jobs last month, below analysts' estimates, while the number of jobs added in June and July was revised down by 74,000, the Labor Department said.

These additions dropped the unemployment rate to 7.3 percent, the lowest in nearly five years. But a decline in job seekers pushed the labor force participation rate to historic lows.

The lower-than-expected numbers are likely to cause Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve to think twice about tapering the central bank's $85 billion bond buy back program later this month.

Retail and health care employment rose, while information employment declined, the Labor Department said.

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Muddled US jobs picture to weigh on Fed decision

WASHINGTON — Employers are sketching a hazy picture of the U.S. job market for the Federal Reserve to weigh in deciding this month whether to reduce its stimulus for the economy — and, if so, by how much.

The economy added 169,000 jobs in August but many fewer in June and July than previously thought. The unemployment rate fell to 7.3 percent, the lowest since 2008, but only because more people stopped looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed.

All told, Friday's report from the Labor Department pointed to a lukewarm job market: Hiring is steady but subpar. Much of the growth is in lower-paying occupations. And many people are giving up on their job searches in frustration. The proportion of Americans working or looking for work reached its lowest point in 35 years.

The sluggish jobs report reflects a U.S. economy that's still struggling to accelerate. The economy grew at a modest 2.5 percent annual rate from April through June, and most analysts think it's weakened since then.

The Fed has been buying $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bonds to try to keep home-loan and other borrowing rates low. Many economists have expected the central bank to taper its monthly purchases after it meets Sept. 17 and 18. Friday's data may lead the Fed to slow its bond buying more gradually than it might have otherwise.

"Soft employment gains only muddied the waters," said James Marple, an economist at TD Economics. "While the data did not take September tapering off the table, it does suggest that the Fed will use a lighter touch."

Marple and some other economists say they now think the Fed may announce this month that it's trimming its bond purchases by $10 billion rather than earlier expectations of $20 billion.

The revised job growth for June and July shrank the previously estimated gain for those months by 74,000. July's gain is now estimated at 104,000 — the fewest in more than a year and down from a previous estimate of 162,000. June's was revised to 172,000 from 188,000.

In the past three months, employers have added an average of just 148,000 jobs. For the first five months of the year, they had added an average of 199,000.

Stock prices rose and fell through the day as traders pondered the job report's impact on the Fed and tensions over the prospect of U.S. military action against Syria. The Dow Jones industrial average finished down nearly 15 points. Broader stock averages closed essentially flat.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to 2.93 percent, from 2.95 percent before the jobs report was released.

One possible concern for the Fed is that most of the hiring in August was in lower-paying occupations. This continues a trend that emerged earlier this year.

For example, retailers such as clothing stores, groceries and electronics outlets added 44,000 jobs. Hotels, restaurants and bars added 27,000. Temp hiring rose by 13,000.

Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, says lower-wage industries have been generating a disproportionate role in hiring because many unemployed people have become desperate enough to take such jobs.

Aside from their low pay, many of those workers are being limited to fewer hours than they'd like.

"In a weak labor market, workers can't find anything better," Baker said.

Phillip Bailey, 39, took a job three months ago in kitchen prep at a McDonald's in Detroit after his unemployment benefits ran out. But his new job pays just $7.40 an hour, and he's usually scheduled for only about 15 to 20 hours a week.

He's working many fewer hours than he did in previous jobs. Bailey used to conduct home energy audits, which found ways for people to reduce utility bills.

"This is a lot less than I'm used to making," he said of his current job. "It's impossible to get by."

The August jobs report showed that hiring in higher-paying fields was more mixed.

Manufacturers added 14,000 jobs in August, the first gain after five months of declines. But that was more than offset by downward revisions that shaved off 26,000 jobs from June and July's figures. That left overall factory jobs in August 12,000 lower than the previous month.

Auto manufacturers added 19,000 jobs. Americans are buying more cars than at any time since the recession began in December 2007. Some of the jobs also likely reflected workers who were rehired last month after being temporarily laid off in July, when factories switched to new models.

But construction jobs were unchanged in August. And the information industry, which includes high-tech workers, broadcasting and film production, cut 18,000 jobs. The biggest losses were in the film industry.

Hiring in construction has slowed drastically from earlier in the year despite a recovery in the housing industry. The construction industry has added an average of just 2,500 jobs a month in the past six months. That compares with an average 25,500 gain in the previous six months.

Employers might have turned cautious last month as the economy slowed. And the downgraded job totals for June and July reflected a loss of government jobs that wasn't picked up initially and was likely related to federal spending cuts that kicked in earlier this year.

Government job cuts were much steeper in June and July than previously estimated. All told, they were revised lower by 38,000. That more than offset a gain of 17,000 in August. Layoffs at government contractors likely also contributed to the decline in manufacturing jobs in those two months.

The percentage of adults working or looking for work, known as the participation rate, fell to 63.2, the lowest since 1978. The rate for men, which has been declining gradually, fell last month to just below 70 percent — its lowest point on records dating to 1948.

Doug Handler, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight, said the decline in the male participation rate suggests that many men who once worked in areas such as manufacturing and construction are giving up on finding work rather than transitioning to another industry.

"It seems they feel that they're never going to get another job in their sector or in any other sector," Handler said.

Still, some economists suggested that an increase last month in hours worked and average hourly pay provided important boosts to Americans' pay and could support stronger consumer spending in coming months.

Average hourly earnings rose 5 cents to $24.05. Hourly pay has risen 2.2 percent in the past 12 months. That's slightly ahead of the 2 percent inflation rate over the same period.

The average hourly workweek ticked up to 34.5 from 34.4, a sign that companies needed more labor. That can lead to larger paychecks.

Earlier this week, some signs had suggested that the economy might have strengthened. Surveys of manufacturing and service firms, for example, showed that they expanded at a healthy pace in August. But Friday's jobs report dampened such optimism.

"We've lost momentum, which is disappointing," said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial. "But we may regain it. That's why (the jobs report) is not a slam-dunk pushing the Fed one way or the other."

___

Associated Press Economics Writers Paul Wiseman and Martin Crutsinger contributed to this report.

___

Follow Chris Rugaber at https://twitter.com/ChrisRugaber .

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Nissan rolls out a sleeker Altima

Fully redesigned for 2013, the Nissan Altima is a smart choice for competitively priced, comfortable driving. A quiet cabin features upgraded materials throughout with excellent visibility and well-thought-out controls.

The car may not be a sports sedan, but hop into the NASA-aided-design "no fatigue" seats, grab hold of the leather-wrapped steering wheel, hit the push-button start, flip the paddle shifters, crank the easy-to-use infotainment system and away you go.

Nissan has smoothed out much of the conservative roundness of earlier versions of the car, streamlining it with a tighter grill, lowered roofline, sleeker fender curves and chrome-tipped dual exhaust, adding much to the curb appeal of this popular midsize. The car is slightly wider and longer, and the cabin and trunk are huge. The iconic bug-like headlamps fit well into the new body style with the taillights curling into rear fenders.

Engine choices remain the same from prior years. The midlevel 3.5 SV tester we drove had the 3.5 liter V-6 coupled to a CVT that produced a robust 270 horsepower, allowing the car to easily cruise on the highway and giving me plenty of pop from stop. Gas mileage estimates run from 22 in the city to 31 on the highway, and I averaged 26, right in the middle of the range.

The handling of the sedan left me underwhelmed and wishing for more road feel. The soft and cushy steering response is what prevents Altima from being classed as a sport sedan. However, this daily commuter provides solid footing and a compliant ride, and I think most folks will enjoy driving the car and find maneuvering around town quite easy.

I found the cabin to be very relaxing and the controls well-placed and easy to use. The redesign carries over here, too, with a nice mix of soft and hard surfaces. It replaces the heavily chromed cockpit shape with a slick combination of brushed aluminum and polished surfaces, and the dash is more appealing with streamlined vents and gauges — ending a decade-old design of round, oversized, protruding pieces. My Bluetooth phone-based Pandora streamed with a touch of a button through the stereo, highlighting a new infotainment center that is keyed off the navigation screen.

Nissan has pushed the Altima up into the same crowded class as the Honda Accord, Ford Fusion, Toyota Camry, Mazda 6, VW Passat and Hyundai Sonata vying for market share. At a base MSRP of $27,780 and tested at $29,335, this well-appointed SV has only one trim level higher that primarily adds leather seats and is a worthy entry in the class. The base model starts at $22,000, and with eight models you should be able to configure a nice car for a price point that's affordable.

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The Ticker

Judge: Apple to modify e-book contracts

Looking to force Apple to obey antitrust laws, a judge yesterday ordered the technology giant to modify contracts with publishers to prevent electronic book price-fixing and said she will appoint an external compliance monitor to review the company's antitrust policies and training.

Stocks finish flat as traders mull weak jobs data, Syria tensions

The stock market ended flat yesterday as traders hoped for more economic stimulus from the Federal Reserve, and worried about escalating tensions between the U.S. and Syria.

Stocks opened slightly higher but soon fell after Russian media reported that Navy ships were en route to Syria, raising worries of a wider conflict and sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging by as much as 148 points in the first half-hour of trading. The Dow rose as high as 15,009 and dropped as low as 14,789 — a 220-point range.

Vegas newspaper buyout bid a go

The corporate owners of the Las Vegas Review-Journal cleared one hurdle yesterday in a bid to buy out the family publishers of their crosstown rival and end a joint operating agreement with the Las Vegas Sun.

U.S. District Judge James Mahan decided it was too early to block Stephens Media from trying to buy Sun newspaper and Internet interests from four Greenspun family member trustees.

Ticketmaster revises sales process

Fans of popular artists or sports teams are painfully aware how difficult it is to find good seats to live events at affordable prices. With a new ticket resale system, Ticketmaster is trying to show you what seats are available in one place — both unsold ones and those up for resale — so you can price-shop more easily.

The nation's largest ticket-seller quietly began rolling out its system, called TM+, for certain shows, including a Black Sabbath concert in Massachusetts in August. More than two dozen professional sports teams have signed up, including many in the NFL.

THE SHUFFLE

• Deborah Hadden, left, has been appointed port director by Thomas P. Glynn, CEO of the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport). In her new role, Hadden will be responsible for directing the planning, development, marketing, operation, security, financial management, administration and maintenance of Massport's non-aviation properties in the Port of Boston.
• MacAulay-Brown Inc., a National Security company providing engineering and technical solutions to Defense, Intelligence, Homeland Security and Federal agencies, announced that it has promoted Fred Norman to senior vice president and general manager of MacB's Mission Systems Group. He will report directly to MacB President and CEO Sid Fuchs.

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Talk turns to tossing tech tax

The Patrick administration is mulling a repeal of the controversial software tax that has threatened Massachusetts' reputation as a tech hub — but only if Beacon Hill leaders can find another way to raise the revenue, according to the state's top economic development official.

"We're actively considering that the tax ought to be replaced with something else that could generate a comparable amount of revenue," Greg Bialecki, secretary of Housing and Economic Development, said yesterday of the debate concerning the software services tax, which has spawned potential ballot initiatives, phone-line protests and a statewide outcry from the tech industry.

"It's not an easy question," Bialecki said. "There are no taxes or other ways to raise revenue that we can think of that are easy and popular."

Gov. Deval Patrick and top Democratic lawmakers took heat from business leaders during a 90-minute, closed-door meeting this week. The business bigwigs, Bialecki said, made it very clear the tax "simply cannot be clarified" and that the Department of Revenue's efforts to sort out its implications are "not going to be the fix."

Repealing the tax — which imposes a 6.25-
percent tax on everything from website design to application work — is now on the table even as administration officials are still working to "interpret" the tax for businesses.

The hitch is finding another way to generate the $161 million the state is counting on from the tech tax to put toward transportation projects. Past Patrick proposals, including changing the income tax code, have admittedly "come and gone," Bialecki said.

"We are open to ideas," he said. "We are working with the parties ... to see if there's an alternative way to raise that revenue that has less of an effect on the issues that we care about."

Republicans, meanwhile, are pushing to repeal the tech tax, sparked by GOP gubernatorial hopeful Charlie Baker, who condemned it this week.

Beacon Hill minority leaders Brad Jones and Bruce Tarr plan to unveil new legislation Monday.

Some Democrats, including state Sen. Karen Spilka — who is running for U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey's vacant congressional seat — have already changed their tune, saying they now want to kill the tax, after they pushed it earlier this year.

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Victorian shines on Waltham street

It's hard not to notice the F.W. Wetherbee House, a striking Queen Anne-style Victorian amid equally large but mostly nondescript homes along Waltham's Crescent Street.

Built in 1892, the 10-room, three-floor dwelling's corner turret, elaborately patterned shingles, ornamented Italianate front porch, and green and red paint scheme give it a commanding presence.

The 3,500-square-foot home — listed on the Massachusetts and National Registers of Historic Places — has been renovated and restored by its owners of 16 years and retains 19th-century elements, both original and reproduced.

The asking price is $739,000 for the five-bedroom, 21⁄2-bathroom home with hardwood floors, down from $769,000 when it previously was on the market about a year ago, according to Realtor Glenna Gelineau of Century 21 Gelineau & Associates in Waltham.

Two sets of original pocket doors lead to the spacious living room and smaller parlor, both of which feature stained-glass windows. A small alcove graces the front of the living room at the base of the turret, while the parlor boasts a working fireplace with original tiles.

Original chair rails, Anaglypta wallpaper and oak flooring decorate the dining room. A pantry with original wooden built-ins leads into the modern kitchen with its maple cabinets, granite countertops and island, and a stainless steel Bosch dishwasher, Thermador gas range with griddle and Sub-Zero refrigerator. There's a half bath off the kitchen and a door to the side, wraparound covered porch.

The home is named for its first owner, Frank W. Wetherbee, who worked as a foreman for the American Waltham Watch Co. on Crescent Street. It formerly served as a college fraternity house and boarding house, traces of which have been erased.

Lincrusta, a deeply embossed wallcovering resembling leather, covers the lower part of the wall in the eight-foot-wide foyer and extends up the original stairway to the second-floor hallway.

The second level includes an office/library with built-in bookcases between two bedrooms, a cedar-lined linen closet and a full bath with dual sinks, granite-tiled, walk-in shower and soaking tub. The master bedroom has a large walk-in cedar closet and bamboo flooring.

The refinished third floor, which includes sloped ceilings, can function as an au pair or teen suite. There are cabinets and a small sink and fridge right off the stairs, a full bath, two bedrooms and another large room. A separate door from that room opens to the sunlit turret, which has five arched windows and an original, but chipping, painted ceiling.

The spacious walk-out basement, which includes workshop-grade wiring and lighting, has a washer and dryer, an original two-basin soapstone sink and door to the backyard.

The backyard includes a small lawn with plantings and a two-car garage, but overlooks an office park.

Other features include central vacuum and alarm systems, a new cast-iron Peerless boiler and a 200-amp electrical service.

The house was featured on HGTV's "Restore America" cable program last year.

Broker: Glenna Gelineau of Century 21 Gelineau & Associates, 781-710-1749

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Mass. cyber security firms untangle Web attacks

A string of high-profile hackings over the last year has turned out to be a boon to Bay State companies that specialize in cyber security.

At the Xconomy summit on innovation, technology and entrepreneurship at Babson College, Tom Leighton, CEO of Akamai, the Cambridge company that delivers nearly a third of global Web traffic, said 74 percent of U.S. companies experienced one or more cyber attacks in the last year. That has translated into a windfall for local cyber security companies such as Dynamics Research Corp. of Andover, which this week became one of 17 winners of a $6 billion blanket purchase agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to provide continuous monitoring throughout the federal government.

As cyber attacks become more common, demand for DRC's services has soared, pushing up its stock price and catapulting its revenues from $225 million in 2007 to more than $300 million last year.

Likewise, Bedford-based RSA, the security division of EMC, has seen its revenues increase from $828 million in 2011 to $888 million last year.

"The part of our business growing fastest is small to medium-sized businesses," said Chester Wisniewski, senior security advisor at Sophos in Burlington. "Even mom-and-pop shops that thought they were immune to cyber attacks now are realizing they have to do something to protect themselves."

Josh Neffinger, president of the New England chapter of the Information Systems Security Association, said there has been particular demand for companies that sell software and services that guard against persistent threat attacks.

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Jobs news rattles Fed

An unexpectedly poor jobs report yesterday that included significant downward revisions for employment in June and July has brought uncertainty to the market, and has analysts questioning the timing of the Fed's plan to taper its $85 billion bond-buying program later this month.

The U.S. economy added just 169,000 jobs last month, below analysts' estimates, while the number of jobs added in June and July was revised down by 74,000, the Labor Department said.

The lower-than-expected numbers are likely to cause Federal Reserve Bank chairman Ben Bernanke to think twice about tapering the central bank's $85 billion bond buyback program later this month, experts said.

"A good report would have sealed the case for tapering to being in September," said Nigel Gault, co-chief economist at the Parthenon Group. "The report has thrown everything up in the air."

The central bank was expected to begin tapering its bond-buying program — credited with keeping interest rates low — after its meeting Sept. 17 and 18.

"This report really questions whether the Fed should be doing that," Gault said.

The jobless rate fell to 7.3 percent, but only because labor force participation fell to 63.2 percent, its lowest level in 35 years.

Bernanke has set a target unemployment rate of 7 percent, but Gault said that number does not hold much significance after yesterday's report.

"It's not going to take that long to get the unemployment to 7, but it's getting there for the wrong reasons," he said.

"The Fed's got themselves in a bit of a pickle in my view."

With labor force participation at its lowest level since 1978, Frank Conte of the Beacon Hill Institute said "prospective workers have little confidence about the ability of this economy to create full-time jobs."

Yesterday, two members of the Federal Reserve panel responsible for voting on tapering came out on opposite sides of the issue.

Charles Evans, president of the Chicago Fed, spoke before the job numbers were announced and expressed concerns about the strength and momentum of the economy. Esther George, president of the Kansas City Fed, speaking after the job numbers were announced, called for tapering of $15 billion a month.

Gault still expects the Fed to begin to taper, but not as aggressively as they otherwise would have.

"There's a huge question mark there," he said. "It does suggest that maybe the path to tapering could be a bit longer than anticipated."

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Worcester pharmacy to pay $1.6M over violations

WORCESTER, Mass. — Prosecutors say a Worcester pharmacy will pay $1.6 million to settle allegations that it broke state laws by automatically refilling prescription medications that were not requested by MassHealth patients.

Attorney General Martha Coakley says AllCare Pharmacy has agreed to return $1.6 million to Massachusetts state coffers and be subject to additional reporting requirements to ensure that it complies with state laws in the future.

The attorney general's office said Friday that the settlement is the first case in the state to crackdown on a pharmacy that automatically refills prescriptions for MassHealth members.

Authorities alleges automatic refill programs cause MassHealth patients to obtain medications far in excess of what was used or needed, leading to wasted government resources.

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