US Job Growth Tops Forecasts

2026-09-04 12:32 By Joana Taborda 1 min. read

The US economy added 162K jobs in August 2026, the most in five months, following an upwardly revised 23K rise in July and much higher than market expectations of 56K.

Employment increased in food services and drinking places by 59K and in local government education by 42K, largely offsetting a decrease in the prior month.

Employment in manufacturing continued its upward trend (16K) and increases were also seen in employment in machinery manufacturing (6K) and in fabricated metal product manufacturing (6K).

Employment in health care continued to trend up (13K), led by home health care services (11K) and hospitals (8K).

On the other hand, information employment declined by 23K, due to computing infrastructure providers, data processing, web hosting, and related services (-8K), publishing industries (-7K), and in broadcasting and content providers (-5K).

Meanwhile, the change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June and July was revised up by a combined 55K.



News Stream
US Job Growth Tops Forecasts
The US economy added 162K jobs in August 2026, the most in five months, following an upwardly revised 23K rise in July and much higher than market expectations of 56K. Employment increased in food services and drinking places by 59K and in local government education by 42K, largely offsetting a decrease in the prior month. Employment in manufacturing continued its upward trend (16K) and increases were also seen in employment in machinery manufacturing (6K) and in fabricated metal product manufacturing (6K). Employment in health care continued to trend up (13K), led by home health care services (11K) and hospitals (8K). On the other hand, information employment declined by 23K, due to computing infrastructure providers, data processing, web hosting, and related services (-8K), publishing industries (-7K), and in broadcasting and content providers (-5K). Meanwhile, the change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June and July was revised up by a combined 55K.
2026-09-04
US Employment Expected to Bounce Back
The US economy is expected to have added 56K jobs in August 2026, marking a modest rebound after a surprising decline of 23K in July. The private sector is forecast to have accounted for 45K of those gains. Local government education employment is expected to recover and a rebound is also anticipated in the leisure and hospitality industry. However, these gains could be offset by the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants, which has affected their work authorization and ability to remain employed. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is expected to have remained unchanged at 4.1%, hovering near a one-year low. Average hourly earnings are projected to have increased 0.3% from the previous month and 3.0% from a year earlier, which would mark the weakest annual growth since May 2021. Overall, the report is expected to point to a relatively stable, albeit subdued, labor market.
2026-09-04
US Nonfarm Payrolls Revised Down by 79K
The US economy added 79,000 fewer jobs in the 12 months through March 2026 than previously estimated, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ preliminary benchmark revision, representing a downward adjustment of 0.1%. The revision was concentrated in several major sectors, with retail trade recording the largest reduction of 154,600 jobs. Private education and health services followed with a 96,000 downward revision, while wholesale trade was revised down by 86,200 and professional and business services by 76,000. Manufacturing payrolls were reduced by 67,000, while leisure and hospitality and mining and logging saw smaller downward adjustments of 33,000 and 6,000, respectively. However, several sectors recorded upward revisions. Transportation and warehousing led with an increase of 135,100 jobs, followed by government with 99,000, information with 87,000, financial activities with 85,000 and construction with 62,000.
2026-08-28