WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Joint Economic Committee released its Monthly Employment Update. In August, jobs increased by 162,000 jobs (+127K private sector, +35K government), more than three times expectations of 53,000. At the same time, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent while the labor force participation rate ticked up by 0.2 percentage points to 61.6 percent. The broadest measure of unemployment (U-6, which adds underemployment to unemployment) decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 7.7 percent.

Revised numbers from July show 21,000 more jobs, after showing an initial loss of 23,000 jobs. June’s final revisions show 31,000 jobs gained, down from the initial reporting of 57,000.

From July to August, the best performing sectors were leisure and hospitality (+62K) and state and local government (+40K). The worst performing sectors were information (-23K) and financial activities (-11K).

From August 2025 to August 2026, the best performing sectors were private education and health services (+539K) and professional and business services (+152K). The worst performing sectors were federal government (-242K) and information (-115K).

Year over year, for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls, average nominal weekly earnings increased by 3.69 percent while average nominal hourly earnings increased by 3.09 percent. For production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls, average nominal weekly earnings increased by 3.61 percent and average nominal hourly earnings increased by 3.3 percent.

Job openings, a measure of labor demand, increased by 89,000 in July. The total number of nonfarm job openings was 7.27 million, and the rate remained increased by 0.1 percentage points to 4.4 percent. The best performing sectors were manufacturing (+79K) and private education and health services (+52K). The worst performing sectors were professional and business services (-65K) and leisure and hospitality (-42K).

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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