Key Takeaways
- The U.S. economy added 119,000 jobs in September, more than forecasters expected, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.4% from 4.3%.
- The report, which was delayed by last month’s government shutdown, presented a mixed picture of the job market’s health.
More people got hired in September than forecasters expected, and more were unemployed too, according to a highly anticipated and long-delayed report on the labor market.
The U.S. economy added 119,000 jobs in September, rebounding from a loss of 4,000 jobs in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday. That was more than double the 50,000 forecasters had expected, according to a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. The unemployment rate rose to 4.4% from 4.3%, reaching a fresh high since October 2021.
Thursday’s report was the first major data on the job market published by government statistical agencies since September. It was originally supposed to be published Oct. 3, but was delayed by the government shutdown. Overall, it painted a mixed picture of the health of the labor market.
What This Means For The Economy
The job market report showed job creation bouncing back after a severe slowdown over the summer, continuing relatively slow growth while not showing red flags of a major crisis.
The number of jobs added was the most since May, but was below the monthly average of 147,000 in the 12 months through April. In addition, the previous two months of job growth were downwardly revised by 33,000.
The uptick in the unemployment rate was due to an increase in job-seekers rather than a wave of layoffs. The labor force participation rate rose to 62.4% from 62.3% in August, reaching its highest since May but remaining well below typical pre-pandemic levels.
Overall, the report “offers reassurance that the labor market wasn’t crumbling before the government shutdown,” Nancy Vanden Houten, lead economist at Oxford Economics, wrote in a commentary.
Most of the job gains came from health care, leisure, and retail sectors. Federal government employment fell by 3,000. Manufacturing lost 6,000 jobs, the fifth decline in as many months. The manufacturing sector has lost jobs every month since President Donald Trump announced sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs intended to give U.S. factories an edge over foreign competition.
A Tale Of Two Surveys
The report is based on two surveys, each of which paints a slightly different picture of the job market’s trajectory.
Employers reported unexpectedly high job growth, whereas households reported an unexpectedly high unemployment rate. Economists generally trust the employer survey more because it is larger and less prone to fluctuating from month to month.
The 43-day government shutdown has disrupted both of those surveys that were supposed to take place in October. The bureau said it would carry out a retroactive survey of employers, but would not for households.
That means there will be no monthly job market report for October, which would typically be published in November. It will be the first time the bureau has ever skipped a monthly report. The job creation data for October will be published in December alongside the regular report for November.
Update — Nov. 20, 2025. This story has been updated after publication to add additional information about the two surveys in the report, the cancellation of the October jobs report, and a comment from an economist. It was originally published Nov. 20, 2025.
