(NYT73) ROCKFORD, Ill. -- Sept. 3, 2004 -- JOBS-REPORT -- A worker machines hydraulic valve spools at Trotter Manufacturing in Loves Park, Illinois, August 17, 2004. The pace of job creation picked up modestly in August and the unemployment rate edged down, the Labor Department said on Friday in a report that offered some political relief to the White House but only tepid signs of a rebound in employment. The nation added 144,000 jobs in August, twice as many as in July but just barely enough to keep pace with increases in the adult population. (Peter Thompson/The New York Times)