US Nonfarm Payroll Increases by 187,000 in August; Unemployment Climbs to 3.8%

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday (9-1-23) that total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 187,000 in August. That is down from the average monthly gain of 271,000 over the prior 12 months.

In August, notable job growth occurred in the following sectors:

• Health care added 71,000 new jobs, following a similar gain in July.
• Leisure and hospitality added 40,000 new jobs. The industry had gained an average of 61,000 jobs per month over the prior 12 months. Still, employment in the industry remains below its February 2020 level by 290,000, or 1.7%.
• Social assistance added 26,000 jobs, in line with the prior 12-month average of 22,000 new jobs per month.
• Construction added 22,000 new jobs in August, in line with the average monthly gain of 17,000 in the prior 12 months.
• Professional and business services gained 19,000 new jobs and has shown essentially no net change since May.

Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; manufacturing; wholesale trade; retail trade; financial activities; other services; and government.

In August, the unemployment rate increased 0.3 percentage point to 3.8%, and the number of unemployed persons increased 514,000 to 6.4 million. The BLS notes that both measures are little changed from a year earlier, when the unemployment rate was 3.7% and the number of unemployed persons was 6.0 million.

The BLS notes that monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from recalculations of seasonal factors. As a result, the change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised down by 80,000—from 185,000 to 105,000—and the change for July was revised down by 30,000—from 187,000 to 157,000. With these revisions, employment in June and July combined is 110,000 lower than previously reported.