The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is reporting today that the country’s unemployment rate remains unchanged at 4.1 per cent even with the addition of 162,000 jobs last month.

Employment increased in food services by 59,000 in August, well above the average monthly gain of 12,000 over the prior 12 months, while local government education added 42,000 jobs in August, largely offsetting a decrease in the prior month. Local government education has shown little net change since January 2025.

In August, employment in manufacturing continued its upward trend (+16,000) and is up by 58,000 since a recent low in December 2025. Employment in machinery manufacturing (+6,000) and in fabricated metal product manufacturing (+6,000) continued trending up in August. 

More data on employment

Employment in health care continued to trend up in August (+13,000) but at a slower pace than the average monthly gain over the prior 12 months (+32,000). Over the month, home health care services (+11,000) and hospitals (+8,000) added jobs. 

The employment-population ratio, at 59.1 per cent, changed little over the month and since January. The number of people employed part time for economic reasons decreased by 414,000 to 4.4 million in August. 

These individuals would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time. The number of unemployed people changed little at 7.0 million. 

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for people who are Asian declined to 3.2 per cent in August. The rate for teenagers edged up to 14.1 per cent, mostly offsetting a decline in the prior month. 

Joblessness data

The jobless rates for adult men (4.0 per cent), adult women (3.5 per cent), and people who are White (3.7 per cent), Black (6.0 per cent), or Hispanic (4.8 per cent) showed little change in August. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) changed little, at 1.9 million in August. 

The long-term unemployed accounted for 27.0 per cent of all unemployed people. The labour force participation rate edged up to 61.6 per cent in August but is down by 0.5 percentage point since January. 

In August, the number of people not in the labour force who currently want a job changed little, at 5.7 million. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job.