Unemployment remained low at 3.8 percent in September, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Unemployment, which was unchanged from August, rose by 0.3 percent from 3.5 percent in August 2022. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 336,000 in September, which was higher than the average monthly gain of 267,000 over the past year.
The leisure and hospitality sector added 96,000 jobs in September. More than half of that growth was in food services and drinking places, which have returned to their pre-pandemic levels. Accommodation employment increased by 16,000 jobs but remained 10.3 percent under its pre-pandemic mark.
The government sector added 73,000 jobs, which outpaced its average monthly gain of 47,000 over the past year. The largest increases came in state government education and in local government with 29,000 and 27,000 jobs, respectively.
The health care sector added 41,000 jobs in September, which was lower than the 53,000 jobs added on a monthly basis over the past year. The majority of those gains were in ambulatory health care services, with fewer positions being added in hospitals and nursing and residential care facilities.
Employment in the professional, scientific and technical service sector rose by 29,000 in September, with the majority of growth in individual and family services. Employment in transportation and warehousing added 9,000 jobs. The truck transportation industry added 9,000 jobs after losing 25,000 positions in August following a business closure.
Other employment numbers were little changed from August. The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was 34.4 hours in September. The average manufacturing workweek was 40.1 hours, while the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls was 33.8 hours.
There were 1.2 million long-term unemployed. The labor force participation rate was listed at 62.8 percent, and the employment-population ratio was 60.4 percent. More than 4 million were employed part-time for economic reasons. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 5.5 million people were not in the labor force but wanted a job in September.
Among major worker groups, the unemployment rate was 3.8 percent for adult men; 3.1 percent for adult women; 11.6 percent for teenagers; 3.4 percent for white people; 5.7 percent for Black people; 2.8 percent for Asian people; and 4.6 percent for Hispanic people.