Payroll Employment Rises by 22,000 in August

POSTED ON Sep 05, 2025

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has published the Employment Situation summary, which presents data from the previous month. According to the report, in August, the labor force participation rate remained steady at 62.3%, while the employment-population ratio held at 59.6%.

The labor force participation rate measures the economy’s active workforce by the number of people ages 16 and older who are employed or actively seeking employment, divided by the total civilian working-age population not in institutions.

The nonfarm payroll, which measures the number of workers in the U.S. economy excluding active military personnel, indicated that only 22,000 jobs were added in August.

The BLS notes that nonfarm employee classifications account for approximately 80% of the workforce, which contributes significantly to the gross domestic product.

The unemployment rate is a key highlight of the employment situation report, which includes demographic information for major worker groups.

In August, the unemployment rates were as follows: adult men (4.1%), adult women (3.8%), teenagers (13.9%), Whites (3.7%), Blacks (7.5%), Asians (3.6%), and Hispanics (5.3%). Federal government employment continued to decline, with a loss of 15,000 jobs in August, bringing the total decline to 97,000 since its peak in January.

While there were job gains in health care, these were partially offset by losses in the federal government and in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction.

According to the Household Survey data, the unemployment rate remained at 4.3%, with 7.4 million individuals unemployed, indicating little change from August.

Among the unemployed, the number of new entrants (those seeking their first job) decreased by 199,000. In contrast, the number of long-term unemployed individuals (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) remained stable at 1.9 million, having increased by 385,000 over the past year. Long-term unemployed individuals accounted for 25.7% of the total unemployed population.

The number of people not in the labor force but seeking employment remained unchanged at 6.4 million in August, although it has increased by 722,000 over the year.

These individuals are not counted as unemployed because they were not actively seeking work during the four weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to accept a job.

Among those not in the labor force who want a job, the number of marginally attached individuals remained stable at 1.8 million in August.

These individuals were available for work and had previously looked for a job within the past 12 months, but had not actively sought employment in the four weeks before the survey.

The number of discouraged workers—those who believe no jobs are available for them—also showed little change over the month, remaining at 514,000.

In August, the health care sector added 31,000 jobs, which is below the average monthly gain of 42,000 over the previous 12 months.

Employment continued to trend upward in ambulatory health care services (+13,000), nursing and residential care facilities (+9,000), and hospitals (+9,000).

Employment in social assistance also increased by 16,000, reflecting ongoing job growth in individual and family services.

In contrast, employment in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction declined by 6,000 in August, after remaining relatively unchanged over the previous 12 months.

Wholesale trade employment continued its downward trend, decreasing by 12,000 jobs in August, resulting in a total decline of 32,000 jobs since May. Manufacturing employment showed little change (-12,000) in August but is down by 78,000 over the year.

Overall, employment levels remained stable across other major industries, including construction, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and other services. Following revisions, the combined employment figures for June and July are now reported to be 21,000 lower than previously stated.

Both payroll employment (+22,000) and unemployment rate (4.3%) change little in August #BLSData https://t.co/ZwrVfLviqL

— BLS-Labor Statistics (@BLS_gov) September 5, 2025