U.S. Payrolls Rise 29,000 in September With Unemployment at 4.2%

U.S. nonfarm payroll employment rose by 29,000 in September 2026 and the unemployment rate was 4.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on October 2, 2026, results the agency characterized as changing little over the month. The September Employment Situation report, embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time that morning, showed the number of unemployed people was also little changed at 7.1 million, and employment in all major industries changed little.

The September payroll gain followed an average monthly increase of 45,000 over the prior 12 months. The unemployment rate has remained in a narrow range of 4.1 percent to 4.3 percent since March 2026, the bureau said.

Household Survey Data

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for people who are Black increased to 7.0 percent in September. The jobless rates for adult men (3.9 percent), adult women (3.6 percent), teenagers (14.5 percent), and people who are White (3.6 percent), Asian (2.9 percent), or Hispanic (4.7 percent) showed little change over the month.

The number of long-term unemployed people, those jobless for 27 weeks or more, was essentially unchanged at 1.9 million, and the long-term unemployed accounted for 27.1 percent of all unemployed people. The labor force participation rate, at 61.8 percent, and the employment-population ratio, at 59.2 percent, each changed little in September and have shown little net change since January 2026.

The number of people employed part time for economic reasons was little changed at 4.5 million. The bureau describes these individuals as people who would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs. People not in the labor force who currently want a job numbered 5.8 million, also little changed; they were not counted as unemployed because they had not actively searched for work in the four weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job. Within that group, the number of people marginally attached to the labor force decreased by 236,000 to 1.5 million, while discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed no jobs were available for them, changed little at 414,000.

Establishment Survey Data

Health care employment continued its upward trend with a gain of 17,000 in September, slower than the average monthly gain of 33,000 over the prior 12 months. Employment trended up in ambulatory health care services, which added 13,000 jobs, and in hospitals, which added 12,000, while nursing and residential care facilities lost 9,000.

Construction employment changed little at +11,000, in line with an average gain of 10,000 jobs per month over the prior 12 months; employment in nonresidential specialty trade contractors continued to trend up at +12,000. Manufacturing employment was little changed at +9,000 and is up 72,000 since a recent low in December 2025, with September gains of 5,000 each in plastics and rubber products manufacturing and in machinery manufacturing. Financial activities employment was little changed at -7,000 and is down 129,000 since a recent peak in May 2025, with most of the job loss in insurance carriers and related activities, down 90,000 over that span.

Summary tables in the report show total private-sector payrolls rose 46,000 in September while government employment fell 17,000. Information employment declined 10,000, temporary help services lost 10,900, leisure and hospitality added 10,000, transportation and warehousing added 7,600, retail trade added 5,800, and wholesale trade added 5,000. Employment showed little change in the remaining major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; professional and business services; social assistance; and other services. The report’s one-month diffusion index for total private industry was 49.0 in September, compared with 57.6 in August; a reading of 50 percent indicates an equal balance between industries with increasing and decreasing employment.

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up 5 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $37.81 in September and have risen 3.0 percent over the past 12 months. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose 7 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $32.60, and average weekly earnings for all private employees were $1,300.66. The average workweek for all private nonfarm employees held at 34.4 hours. In manufacturing, the workweek was unchanged at 40.6 hours and overtime held at 3.0 hours, while the workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees remained at 33.8 hours.

The bureau revised the change in total nonfarm payroll employment for July down by 31,000, from a gain of 21,000 to a loss of 10,000, and revised the change for August down by 29,000, from +162,000 to +133,000. With these revisions, employment in July and August combined is 60,000 lower than previously reported. The report states that monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors.

According to the report, an over-the-month employment change of about 122,000 is statistically significant in the establishment survey, while the threshold for a statistically significant change in the household survey is about 650,000. The household survey is a sample of about 60,000 eligible households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the bureau, and the establishment survey draws each month on payroll records from about 119,000 businesses and government agencies representing approximately 622,000 individual worksites, an active sample covering approximately 26 percent of nonfarm payroll jobs.

The Employment Situation for October 2026 is scheduled for release on Friday, November 6, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.