World News
American payrolls add 162,000 in August, and June and July are revised up by 55,000
By Staff Writer | 5 September 2026
The August employment report came in about three times the forecast, with construction adding 22,000 and the information industry losing 23,000. Unemployment held at 4.1 per cent. Futures markets moved towards pricing a rate rise this month.
Total nonfarm payroll employment in the United States rose by 162,000 in August, against an average monthly gain of 31,000 over the prior twelve months. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1 per cent and the number of people unemployed changed little at 7.0 million. Economists surveyed before the release had forecast gains in the mid fifty thousands, so the figure came in at roughly three times what the market expected.
The revisions matter as much as the headline. June was revised up by 11,000, from a gain of 20,000 to a gain of 31,000. July was revised up by 44,000, turning a reported loss of 23,000 into a gain of 21,000. Taken together the two months are 55,000 higher than previously reported, which removes the only recent month that had shown outright contraction.
Where the jobs were
Two sectors did most of the work. Food services and drinking places added 59,000, well above their average monthly gain of 12,000 over the prior year. Local government education added 42,000, largely offsetting a fall the month before as the school year began, and has shown little net change since January 2025. That second figure is a calendar effect rather than a trend, and it is worth discounting before reading the number as demand.
Construction employment added 22,000. Within it, nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 8,000, against an average monthly gain of 6,000 over the prior twelve months.
Manufacturing continued its upward run with 16,000 and is 58,000 above a recent low in December 2025, with machinery manufacturing and fabricated metal products each adding 6,000. Health care added 13,000, well below its average monthly gain of 32,000, with home health care services up 11,000 and hospitals up 8,000.
The information industry lost 23,000, after losses averaging 8,000 a month over the prior year. The falls were spread across computing infrastructure providers, data processing and web hosting, down 8,000, publishing, down 7,000, and broadcasting and content providers, down 5,000. Employment changed little in mining and oil and gas extraction, wholesale and retail trade, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and professional and business services.
Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 10 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to 37.75 dollars, and are up 3.1 per cent over the year. The average working week edged up by 0.1 hour to 34.4 hours.
The rate question
The report lands ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting later this month. Futures markets moved after the release towards pricing a quarter point increase, to a range of 3.75 to 4.00 per cent, from roughly even odds the day before. Equity markets fell on the day, with the main American indices down between 0.2 and 0.5 per cent.
President Donald Trump responded to the release by pressing the central bank in the opposite direction.
Lower the interest rates because the U.S.A. is a much stronger credit than it was a short time ago!
Donald Trump, President of the United States
One caution belongs on the figure. The private payroll survey published separately this week recorded 38,000 jobs added, far below the official establishment survey, and the two series diverge often enough that a single month's gap proves little on its own. Job openings in July stood at 7.3 million, up slightly from 7.2 million, with total separations falling to 5.1 million from 5.3 million.
Across the border the picture ran the other way. Canada lost 41,700 jobs in August on the national statistics agency's count, with unemployment steady at 6.4 per cent, in the middle of a trade dispute with its largest market.
For contractors reading it from outside, the number that carries is the 8,000 in nonresidential specialty trades. It is small, it is above trend, and it is the part of the report closest to what a commercial building programme actually looks like when it is running.