Job growth rebounded in August with solid gains

Job growth rebounded in August with solid gains

The U.S. economy rebounded in August, adding jobs at a solid pace after a surprise decline in July amid economic uncertainty. What are the key findings of the August 2026 jobs report? The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday reported that employers added 162,000 jobs in August. That figure was well above the estimate of 56,000 made by economists polled by LSEG. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1% in August, which was also in line with the expectations of economists polled by LSEG.

Revisions were made to the payroll numbers for the prior two months, with June revised up by 11,000 from a gain of 20,000 to 31,000; while July's report was revised up by 44,000 from a loss of 23,000 to a gain of 21,000. Taken together, employment in June and July is 55,000 higher than previously reported.

What sectors added or lost the most jobs in August 2026? Private payrolls added 127,000 jobs in August, well above the gain of 45,000 that was estimated by LSEG economists. July's growth in private payrolls was revised up from a gain of 30,000 to 71,000. Government payrolls added 35,000 jobs in August, with the sector's loss of 53,000 jobs in July revised to a loss of 50,000 jobs. Local governments added 50,000 jobs, including 42,000 education roles, which more than offset declines in government employment at the federal (-5,000) and state (-10,000) levels.

The manufacturing sector added 16,000 jobs in August, well above the LSEG poll's estimate of 5,000. The sector's gain of 5,000 jobs in July was also revised up to 14,000. Food services and drinking places added 59,000 jobs in August, well above the average monthly gain of 12,000 over the past year. Healthcare added 13,000 jobs in August, which represented a slowdown from the average monthly gain of 32,000 over the last 12 months. Within the sector, home healthcare services (+11,000) and hospitals (+8,000) added jobs.

Information employment declined by 23,000 jobs in August, a deeper decline than the average loss of 8,000 jobs a month over the last year. Most of the losses occurred in computing infrastructure providers, data processing, web hosting and related services (-8,000), as well as in publishing (-7,000) and in broadcasting and content providers (-5,000). Construction employment was little changed with a gain of 22,000 jobs in August, driven by nonresidential specialty trade contractors (+8,000), which was similar to the average monthly gain of 6,000 over the prior 12 months.

What does the August 2026 jobs report mean for the workforce? The number of long-term unemployed, defined as those who have been jobless for 27 weeks or more, was little changed at 1.9 million in August. The long-term unemployed accounted for 27% of all unemployed people last month. The number of people employed part-time for economic reasons decreased by 414,000 to 4.4 million in August. These people would've preferred full-time employment but were working part-time because their hours had been reduced, or they were unable to find full-time jobs.

The labor force participation rate ticked up to 61.6% in August, but is down by 0.5 percentage points since January. The employment-population ratio was 59.1% last month, having ch...