Manufacturing Gains Jobs in September, Driven by Durable Goods Growth
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by just 29,000 in September, coming in below expectations. Meanwhile, August’s job gain was revised downward by 29,000 to a gain of 133,000 jobs, while July’s job gain was revised downward by 31,000 to a loss of 10,000 jobs. The 12-month average stands at 41,000 job gains per month. Healthcare and social assistance continues to exhibit the most significant job gains, adding 23,000 jobs in September. At the same time, the unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 percentage point from August to 4.2%, while the labor force participation rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 61.8% but is down from 62.5% in September 2025.
Manufacturing employment advanced by 9,000 in September after increasing by 15,000 in August. In addition, the collective job gains in July and August of 30,000 were revised upward by 5,000 jobs to an increase of 35,000 jobs. Manufacturing employment is up 40,000 over the year and up 72,000 since a recent low in December 2025. Durable goods manufacturing employment climbed by 8,000 in September, while nondurable goods employment inched up by 1,000. The largest manufacturing job gain occurred in plastics and rubber products, which added 4,600 jobs over the month. Meanwhile, the most significant loss occurred in paper manufacturing, which shed 2,600 jobs over the month.
The employment-population ratio edged up 0.1 percentage point from August to 59.2% in September but is down 0.5 percentage points from a year ago. Meanwhile, employed persons who are part-time workers for economic reasons rose by 111,000 from August to 4.5 million in September but are down from 4.6 million in September 2025. Native-born employment is up 298,000 from August but down 965,000 over the year. Meanwhile, foreign-born employment is up 473,000 over the month and 509,000 over the year. At the same time, the native-born unemployment rate is down 0.1 percentage point over the year to 4.2% in September, while the foreign-born unemployment rate is down 0.9 percentage points to 3.2%.
Average hourly earnings for all private nonfarm payroll employees rose 0.1%, or 5 cents, reaching $37.81. Over the past year, earnings have grown 3.0%. The average workweek for all employees stayed the same at 34.4 hours and also stayed the same at 40.6 hours for manufacturing employees.
