U.S. Jobs Report: September Payrolls Rise 119,000 After Weeks-Long Shutdown Delay
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has finally released the September 2025 Employment Situation Report after a six-week delay caused by the federal government shutdown.
The data shows a labor market that is still expanding, but losing momentum, with hiring slowing and unemployment ticking higher compared to last year.
Payroll Growth Stalls as Job Market Softens
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 119,000 in September, a modest gain that keeps hiring essentially flat since April. While the U.S. economy is still adding jobs, the pace has clearly cooled from the stronger gains seen earlier in the year.
The unemployment rate held at 4.4%, little changed from August, but notably higher than the 4.1% rate recorded one year earlier. Roughly 7.6 million Americans were unemployed during the month.
The household survey shows that several key labor indicators remain weak. The labor-force participation rate held at 62.4%, unchanged both month-to-month and year-over-year. The employment-population ratio stayed at 59.7%, but is down 0.4 percentage points over the past year.
Long-term unemployment, those jobless for 27 weeks or more, remained elevated at 1.8 million, accounting for 23.6% of all unemployed persons.
Key Sectors: Health Care Strong, Transportation Weak
Hiring in September was uneven across industries:
Sectors adding jobs
- Health care
- Food services and drinking places
- Social assistance
These areas continue to benefit from demographic demand and post-pandemic recovery patterns.
Sectors losing jobs
- Transportation and warehousing
- Federal government
The decline in transportation and warehousing is consistent with the slowdown in goods movement and cooling consumer demand. Federal government job losses follow a period of hiring volatility linked to budget uncertainty.
Part-Time Work and Labor Force Trends
The number of Americans working part time for economic reasons remained at 4.6 million, showing no meaningful improvement. These individuals want full-time jobs but either had hours cut or could not find full-time work.
Another 5.9 million people were not in the labor force but say they want a job, a decline of 421,000 from August. However, because they were not actively job-hunting in the past four weeks, they are not counted as unemployed.
Among this group, 1.7 million are considered marginally attached to the workforce, people who looked for work within the last 12 months but not recently. The number of discouraged workers, a subset who believe no jobs are available to them, was little changed.
Shutdown Impact and Data Collection Notes
This month’s jobs report is unusual for several reasons tied to the federal shutdown:
- The release was delayed more than six weeks.
- Household survey data was fully collected before the shutdown, so results are unaffected.
- Establishment survey data reflects both pre-shutdown collection and self-reported business data submitted during the shutdown.
- The September establishment survey achieved an 80.2% collection rate, higher than normal because many firms filed electronically while BLS operations were offline.
The BLS confirmed that:
- There will be no October Employment Situation Report.
- October establishment data will be published alongside November results.
- October household data was not collected and will not be retroactively produced.
- The November report is scheduled for December 16, 2025.
A Labor Market Losing Momentum But Not Collapsing
Overall, the September data paints a picture of a labor market that remains resilient but is clearly slowing. Payroll growth is far below 2023–2024 levels, unemployment is drifting higher, and workforce participation remains stagnant.
For policymakers, the mixed results may complicate upcoming decisions, especially as the delayed October and forthcoming November indicators will come in as a combined snapshot.
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