U.S. nonfarm payroll employment increased by 119,000 in September after the original August estimate was revised down from +22,000 to –4,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) September 2025 Employment Situation report.
The publication of the September report was delayed by more than a month following the record-breaking 43-day government shutdown.
The unemployment rate grew slightly from 4.3% to 4.4%, its highest rate since October 2021. The number of unemployed people in September increased year-over-year from 6.9 million in 2024 to 7.6 million in 2025.
“The surprisingly strong September employment figures further throw cold water on another Fed rate cut next month,” writes Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist for Nationwide. “The sharp rebound in employment gains, up 119,000 in September following the downwardly revised negative 4,000 print in August soothes concerns that the labor market was on the precipice of a large downturn and removes urgency for another rate cut.”
Manufacturing showed little movement, decreasing by 6,000 jobs in September. Within manufacturing, the sector that added the most jobs is beverage, tobacco, and leather and allied products, while plastics and rubber products lost the most jobs.
BLS recently announced it will not publish an October jobs report. The establishment survey data will be published with the November jobs report, and the household survey data were not collected due to the shutdown and will not be collected retroactively.
“We’ll effectively get a double jobs report on Tuesday, Dec. 16, when the BLS releases payroll data for both October and November,” writes Andrew Flowers, chief economist for Appcast. “That report will likely be more consequential, recontextualizing today’s data and providing a better sense of the job market going into 2026.”
