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Friday, October 06, 2023

September Employment Report: 336 thousand Jobs, 3.8% Unemployment Rate

by Calculated Risk on 10/06/2023 08:30:00 AM

From the BLS:

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 336,000 in September, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality; government; health care; professional, scientific, and technical services; and social assistance.
...
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for July was revised up by 79,000, from +157,000 to +236,000, and the change for August was revised up by 40,000, from +187,000 to +227,000. With these revisions, employment in July and August combined is 119,000 higher than previously reported.
emphasis added
Employment per monthClick on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows the jobs added per month since January 2021.

Total payrolls increased by 336 thousand in September.  Private payrolls increased by 263 thousand, and public payrolls increased 73 thousand.

Payrolls for July and August were revised up 119 thousand, combined.

Year-over-year change employment The second graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968.

In September, the year-over-year change was 3.19 million jobs.  Employment was up significantly year-over-year but has slowed to more normal levels of job growth recently.

The third graph shows the employment population ratio and the participation rate.

Employment Pop Ratio and participation rate The Labor Force Participation Rate was unchanged at 62.8% in September, from 62.8% in August. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force.

The Employment-Population ratio was unchanged at 60.4% from 60.4% (blue line).

I'll post the 25 to 54 age group employment-population ratio graph later.

unemployment rateThe fourth graph shows the unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8% in September from 3.8% in August.

This was well above consensus expectations; and, July and August payrolls were revised up by 119,000 combined.  

I'll have more later ...