Unemployment holds steady
Jobs growth
Total nonfarm payrolls grew by 162,000 in August, well above the 31,000 average monthly gain over the past year.
Top industries
Food services and drinking places led the way with 59,000 new jobs, and local government education added 42,000, largely making up for a dip the month before. Manufacturing kept climbing, up 16,000 in August and 58,000 since its low point in December 2025. This industry increase was led by machinery and fabricated metal production. Healthcare added 13,000 jobs, driven by home health care and hospitals, and construction ticked up by 22,000.
The information sector was the clear soft spot, shedding 23,000 jobs as computing infrastructure, publishing, and broadcasting all pulled back. Retail, transportation, and financial activities showed little movement. For employers across light industrial and professional white-collar functions, the pattern points to steady, if uneven, demand rather than a broad slowdown.
Unemployment
The unemployment rate stayed flat at 4.1% in August, matching July. The number of unemployed people held near 7.0 million, and long-term unemployment, those out of work for 27 weeks or more, changed little at 1.9 million, or 27% of everyone unemployed. The reading suggests a labor market that has settled into a steadier rhythm after several choppier months.
Wages
Average hourly earnings rose 10 cents, or 0.3%, to $37.75 in August, bringing the year-over-year gain to 3.1%. Production and nonsupervisory employees saw a similar bump, up 11 cents to $32.53 an hour. Steady wage growth keeps pressure on employers to stay competitive on pay to retain talent.
Work week
The average workweek edged up slightly to 34.4 hours, while manufacturing hours climbed to 40.5 with overtime holding at 3.1 hours.
Temporary job trends
Temporary help grew by 6,800 month-over-month in August, continuing a strong seasonal trend over the summer. Over the rest of the season, temporary help grew by 16,900 in June and 5,200 in July, reflecting a sustained need for greater staffing support due to seasonal employment demands. This also may indicate an adjustment in hiring strategies for many employers who use flexible staffing to test demand before committing to permanent headcount.
Labor force participation
Labor force participation edged up to 61.6% in August but remains 0.5 percentage points below where it stood in January. The number of people who want a job but are not counted in the labor force stayed near 5.7 million, including 1.7 million who are marginally attached and 441,000 who have stopped looking altogether. Meanwhile, the number working part-time for economic reasons dropped by 414,000 to 4.4 million, a sign more of them found the full-time hours they wanted.
Put together, these numbers describe a workforce that is not expanding much, even as demand for workers holds steady. When the available talent pool stays flat, employers feel it in how long roles sit open and how much they need to offer to fill them. Pay is only part of the equation, with flexible schedules, clear growth paths, and benefits that fit how people want to work all factoring into whether a candidate says yes.
What it means going forward
BLS also revised its prior two months upward, adding 11,000 jobs to June's count and 44,000 to July's, for a combined 55,000 more than first reported. Revisions like these are a reminder that any single month's headline number is a snapshot, not the full picture. With payroll growth accelerating, wages climbing, and the labor pool staying tight, employers have reason to plan ahead rather than react. Whether that means building a bench of flexible talent, revisiting pay bands, or getting ahead of a seasonal hiring push, Spherion's local teams track these shifts every month and can help turn the data into a hiring plan that works.
Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Staffing Industry Analysts, NBC News, Reuters, USA Today
