Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 194,000 in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Total unemployed persons fell to 7.7 million in September, and the unemployment rate decreased to 4.8%.
Most of the job gains in September were in leisure and hospitality, in professional and business services, in retail trade, and in transportation and warehousing.
Employment in professional and business services increased by 60,000 in September. Employment rose in architectural and engineering services (+15,000), management and technical consulting services (+15,000), and computer systems design and related services (+9,000). Since February 2020, employment in professional and business services is down by 385,000.
Transportation and warehousing added 47,000 jobs in September, bringing employment in the industry above (+72,000) its pre-pandemic level in February 2020. Employment gains have been led by strong growth in couriers and messengers and in warehousing and storage, which added 29,000 jobs in September. Air transportation also added jobs (+10,000).
The civilian labor force participation rate was little changed at 61.6%. Persons on temporary layoff decreased to 1.1 million in September. This measure is down considerably from the high of 18.0 million in April 2020 but is 374,000 above the February 2020 level. Workers with permanent job loss declined to 2.3 million.
Read the BLS release.
