WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Joint Economic Committee released its Monthly Employment Update. For FY2026, jobs increased by 496,000, unemployment decreased slightly by 0.2 percentage points, and the labor force participation rate held steady for prime aged workers (83.7 percent) but ticked down by 0.7 percentage points overall ending the year at 61.8 percent.

In September, jobs increased by 29,000 jobs (+46K private sector, -17K government), less than expectations of 84,000. At the same time, the unemployment rate ticked up slightly from 4.1 percent to 4.2 percent, while the labor force participation rate ticked up by 0.2 percentage points to 61.8 percent. The broadest measure of unemployment (U-6, which adds underemployment to unemployment) decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 7.6 percent.

Revised numbers from August show 29,000 fewer jobs gained dropping from 164,000 initially reported to 133,000. July numbers were also revised, ending with 13,000 more jobs.

From August to September, the best performing sectors were private education and health services (+20K) and trade, transportation, and utilities (+18K). The worst performing sectors were state and local government (-16K) and information (-10K).

From September 2025 to September 2026, the best performing sectors were private education and health services (+516K) and professional and business services (+123K). The worst performing sectors were federal government (-232K) and information (-120K).

Year over year, for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls, average nominal weekly earnings increased by 3.63 percent while average nominal hourly earnings increased by 3.02 percent. For production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls, average nominal weekly earnings increased by 3.6 percent and average nominal hourly earnings increased by 3.3 percent.

In August, job openings, a measure of labor demand, decreased by 256,000. The total number of nonfarm job openings was 7.08 million down from 7.27 million in July. The rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 4.3 percent. The best performing sectors were leisure and hospitality (+61K) and information (+45K). The worst performing sectors were professional and business services (-119K) and private education and health services (-101K).

For the full Employment update and to see more details on the employment situation in each state, visit: https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/republicans/employment-update.

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