September Jobs Report: Payrolls Rose 29,000, Unemployment Edged Up to 4.2%

U.S. employers added a preliminary 29,000 jobs in September 2026, and the unemployment rate edged up to 4.2% from 4.1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report published October 2. BLS says both numbers changed little, and the more notable detail is that July and August were revised down by a combined 60,000 jobs. Everything below is as first published on October 2, 2026, and is preliminary.

What did the September jobs report show?

Payrolls rose by 29,000 and the unemployment rate rose 0.1 point to 4.2%, and BLS describes both changes as little changed. The 29,000 gain compares with an average monthly gain of 45,000 over the prior 12 months, and the three-month average for July through September is 51,000.

August payrolls are the revised figure, and both months are marked preliminary in the BLS tables. A year earlier, in September 2025, the unemployment rate was 4.4%.

Is a 29,000 gain statistically different from zero?

No. The BLS FAQ says an over-the-month payroll change of about 122,000 is needed to be statistically significant, so a 29,000 gain cannot be told apart from no change. The technical note explains why: at the 90 percent confidence level, a range that includes zero means BLS cannot say with confidence that employment actually rose.

For the household survey, which produces the unemployment rate, the FAQ puts the threshold for a significant change in employment at about 650,000. Household employment rose by 406,000 in September. BLS likewise says the unemployment rate changed little, noting that it has stayed in a narrow range of 4.1% to 4.3% since March.

How were July and August revised?

July was revised down by 31,000, from +21,000 to −10,000, and August by 29,000, from +162,000 to +133,000, which leaves the two months 60,000 lower than previously reported. BLS says monthly revisions come from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies and from recalculated seasonal factors.

Each column is a successive published estimate. July appeared on August 7, September 4 and October 2; August on September 4 and October 2; September for the first time on October 2. BLS treats a monthly estimate as final after two revisions, so July’s −10,000 now stands as its final monthly figure, subject only to the annual benchmark. August and September will be revised again.

Measured against first estimates instead, the picture is mixed. By our arithmetic from the published numbers, July is 13,000 above its first estimate of −23,000, while August is 29,000 below its first estimate of +162,000.

Which industries added or lost jobs?

Health care (+17,000), construction (+11,000) and manufacturing (+9,000) are the industries BLS highlighted for gains, and financial activities (−7,000) for losses. Total private payrolls rose by 46,000, while government fell by 17,000 (federal −1,000, state −3,000, local −13,000). BLS says employment in all major industries changed little.

• Health care: +17,000, slower than the +33,000 average 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: +11,000, against an average of +10,000 a month over the prior 12 months.
• Manufacturing: +9,000, and up 72,000 since a recent low in December 2025.
• Financial activities: −7,000, and down 129,000 since a recent peak in May 2025, with most of the loss in insurance carriers and related activities (−90,000).

What did the household survey show on unemployment and participation?

The unemployment rate rose 0.1 point to 4.2% with 7.1 million people unemployed, and the labor force participation rate edged up 0.2 point to 61.8%, which BLS also calls little changed. The employment-population ratio was 59.2%, up from 59.1% in August. A year earlier, in September 2025, the figures were 4.4% unemployment, 7.6 million unemployed and 62.5% participation.

Other household measures in the release:

• Long-term unemployed: 1.9 million people jobless for 27 weeks or more, essentially unchanged, and 27.1% of all unemployed people.
• Marginally attached to the labor force: down 236,000 to 1.5 million. Discouraged workers, a subset, were little changed at 414,000.

What happened to the unemployment rate for Black workers?

It rose to 7.0% in September from 6.0% in August, and BLS names it as the only major worker group whose rate increased over the month. The release’s table shows 6.3% in July and 7.6% in September 2025. BLS says the rates for adult men (3.9%), adult women (3.6%), teenagers (14.5%), White workers (3.6%), Asian workers (2.9%) and Hispanic workers (4.7%) showed little change. The release gives no reason for the move in the Black unemployment rate, and we do not offer one.

What did the report say about pay and hours?

Average hourly earnings for all private-sector employees rose 5 cents, or 0.1%, to $37.81 in September, and are up 3.0% over the past 12 months. For production and nonsupervisory employees, hourly earnings rose 7 cents, or 0.2%, to $32.60. The average workweek for all private employees was unchanged at 34.4 hours.

When is the next jobs report?

The Employment Situation for October 2026 is scheduled for Friday, November 6, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. ET. That release will carry new estimates for both August and September, which is why every figure here is labeled as first published on October 2. BLS’s charts also carry a note that data for October 2025 were not collected because of the federal government shutdown.

What is firmly on the record from the September report?

Three things stand as of October 2: a payroll gain well below BLS’s own 122,000 significance threshold, a 0.1-point rise in the unemployment rate that BLS calls little changed, and a 60,000-job downward revision to the two months before. All are preliminary. For how July looked when first published, with an initial estimate of a 23,000 decline, see our August round-up .