Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 263,000 in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Total unemployed persons edged down to 5.8 million in September, and the unemployment rate declined to 3.5%.
Job growth was notable in professional and business services and in health care.
In September, leisure and hospitality added 83,000 jobs in line with the average monthly job gain in the first 9 months of the year. However, employment in leisure and hospitality is below its February 2020 level by 1.1 million, or 6.7%.
Employment in professional and business services continued to grow, with an increase of 46,000 in September. Within the industry, employment gains occurred in employment in temporary help services continued to trend up (+27,000), investigation and security services (+9,000) and in scientific research and development services (+5,000). Job losses occurred in business support services (-12,000), legal services (-5,000), and advertising and related services (-5,000). Over the past 12 months, professional and business services have added 1.1 million jobs.
Employment in health care rose by 60,000 in September. with job gains in hospitals (+27,5000), offices of physicians (+10,200) and home health care services (+10,600), and Health care has added 472,000 jobs over the year. Health care has returned to its February 2020 level.
The civilian labor force participation rate was little changed at 62.3%. The number of persons on temporary layoff changed little at 758,000. Workers with permanent job loss decreased by 173,000 to 1.2 million.
Read the BLS release.
