September 2026 jobs report: 29,000 added

Employers added 29,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday, October 2. The agency described both as little changed. The gain was below the average monthly increase of 45,000 over the prior 12 months, and the two previous months were revised down.

The headline numbers

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 29,000. The number of unemployed people was 7.1 million and the unemployment rate 4.2 percent, up from 4.1 percent in August. The rate has stayed in a narrow range of 4.1 to 4.3 percent since March. The latest figures sit in the unemployment rate tracker, month by month with the broader U-6 rate.

Average hourly earnings for private-sector employees rose by 5 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $37.81, and are up 3.0 percent over 12 months. For production and nonsupervisory employees they rose 7 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $32.60. The average workweek held at 34.4 hours. The labor force participation rate was 61.8 percent and the employment-population ratio 59.2 percent, both little changed over the month, with little net change since January.

The revisions

The change for July was revised down by 31,000, from a gain of 21,000 to a loss of 10,000. The change for August was revised down by 29,000, from +162,000, the figure the August jobs report carried, to +133,000. With the revisions, employment in July and August combined is 60,000 lower than previously reported. BLS says monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies and from the recalculation of seasonal factors.

Where the jobs were

BLS says employment in all major industries changed little over the month. Health care continued its upward trend with 17,000 jobs, but below its average monthly gain of 33,000 over the prior 12 months: ambulatory health care added 13,000 and hospitals 12,000, while nursing and residential care facilities lost 9,000. Construction added 11,000, close to its 12-month average of 10,000. Manufacturing added 9,000 and is up 72,000 since a recent low in December 2025. Financial activities lost 7,000 and is down 129,000 since a recent peak in May 2025, with most of that decline, 90,000, in insurance carriers and related activities.

The people behind the rate

The number of long-term unemployed, those out of work for 27 weeks or more, was essentially unchanged at 1.9 million, 27.1 percent of all unemployed people. The number working part time for economic reasons was 4.5 million. The number of people not in the labor force who want a job was 5.8 million, and the number marginally attached to the labor force fell by 236,000 to 1.5 million; discouraged workers numbered 414,000. By group, the unemployment rate for Black workers rose to 7.0 percent, while the rates for adult men (3.9 percent), adult women (3.6 percent), teenagers (14.5 percent), White (3.6 percent), Asian (2.9 percent) and Hispanic workers (4.7 percent) showed little change.

What it does not say

An aggregate report says nothing about which employers cut staff. That comes from the filings: an 8-K Item 2.05 when a public company commits to a restructuring, and a WARN notice with the state when a site closes or a large layoff is announced. The layoffs tracker reads the first kind, and the WARN notices tracker links the second. Anyone who is part of a cut should start with the first 30 days after a layoff, because unemployment benefits run from the week the claim is filed, not from the last day of work.