Employers added 29,000 jobs in September, short of forecasts

… {"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/","name":"CBS News","foundingDate":"1927-09-18","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CBSNews\/","https:\/\/instagram.com\/cbsnews\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/CBSNews","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/CBSNews","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/CBS_News"],"logo":[{"@type":"ImageObject","height":300,"width":300,"url":["https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/assets\/show\/cbsn\/logo-square-300x300.png"]}],"url":"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/","description":"CBS News is a trusted source for the latest in politics, U.S. and world news. The network is home to award-winning broadcasts CBS Mornings, CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes, CBS Sunday Morning, 48 Hours and Face the Nation.","contactPoint":{"@type":"ContactPoint","telephone":"+1-888-369-4762","contactType":"customer service"},"address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"524 w 57th St.","addressLocality":"New York City","addressRegion":"New York","postalCode":"10019","addressCountry":"US"},"publishingPrinciples":"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/cbs-news-publishing-principles\/"} </script> <script type="application/ld+json"> {"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","articleBody":"Employers across the U.S. added 29,000 jobs in September, below economists\u0027 forecasts and signaling that some businesses are holding off on hiring amid headwinds such as surging energy prices and higher inflation.\u00a0Economists had forecast the economy would add 90,000 new jobs last month, according to financial data firm FactSet. The unemployment rate stood at 4.2% in September, up slightly from 4.1% in the prior month.Cooler hiring in July and AugustRecent data suggest the labor market has picked up since last year, when employers added an average of just 10,000 new jobs per month. But the September report suggests that hiring may be flagging after August\u0027s strong employment report and the Federal Reserve\u0027s first interest rate hike in three years.\"September\u0027s nonfarm payroll gain of just 29,000 jobs raises questions about the durability of the labor market after the Federal Reserve\u0027s first interest rate increase since 2023,\" Jerry Tempelman, vice president of economic and fixed income research at Mutual of America, said in an email.Hiring was muted across industries, with even healthcare, this year\u0027s bright spot in job growth, adding just 17,000 new hires, experts noted. Financial services firms, meanwhile, shed 7,000 jobs last month.\u00a0\"Only healthcare and construction were hiring, and it was weak,\" said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. Americans are frustrated by the lack of opportunities right now. \"Across America, people don\u0027t like this labor market. It\u0027s not hard to see why. There\u0027s still not much hiring going on.\"The Labor Department on Friday also revised down the payroll gains for July and August by a combined 60,000. The downward revisions put August\u0027s \"rebound into perspective,\" said Steve Rick, chief economist at financial services firm TruStage, in an email. \"One month doesn\u0027t make a trend, and monthly payroll numbers can bounce around quite a bit. What matters more is whether the three-month trend continues to show a labor market that is gradually cooling rather than falling off a cliff.\"Economists are closely watching other measures of labor market strength, such as wage growth, which has lagged inflation for five consecutive months. In September, wages rose at an annual rate of 3%, below the August Consumer Price Index reading of 3.4%. The September CPI data will be released on Oct. 14.September\u0027s wage growth is \"the lowest since May 2021,\" Long said. \"Inflation has wiped out wage gains since March. That\u0027s a real financial squeeze.\"Data released Thursday by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray &amp; Christmas shows that job cuts have\u00a0fallen sharply in 2026. Layoffs through September have declined 40% from the same period a year earlier, its report found. On a monthly basis, layoffs dropped 20% compared with September 2025, marking the lowest level in four years.\u00a0What it means for interest ratesThe increase in the nation\u0027s unemployment rate \"warrants close attention,\" Tempelman said. Rising joblessness combined with softer hiring could signal that additional Fed interest rate hikes could constrain economic activity, he added.The weaker-than-expected September jobs data could cause the Federal Reserve to hold off on an additional rate cut at its October meeting, said Ken Mahoney, CEO of Mahoney Asset Management, in an email.\"For the Fed, these numbers do not make a case for a rate increase in October,\" he said. \"A hike would have to come from the inflation data, not from a labor market that produced 29,000 jobs against a 90,000 estimate and then subtracted 60,000 from the prior two months.\"A stable labor market gives the Federal Reserve more room to raise interest rates in the coming months, according to economists. The central bank is focused on driving inflation down to its 2% annual target and last month raised its benchmark interest rate\u00a0for the first time in more than three years.\u00a0In August, U.S. inflation rose at an annual rate of 3.4%, as soaring energy costs pushed up consumer prices.\u00a0","dateModified":"2026-10-02T10:52:16-0400","articleSection":["MoneyWatch"],"author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aimee Picchi","url":"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/team\/aimee-picchi\/","description":"Aimee Picchi is associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has been published by national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports. Aimee frequently writes about retirement, and has been a National Press Foundation fellow for reporting on retirement and Columbia University\u0027s Age Boom Academy. She\u0027s also the editor of the Institutional Investor book &quot;Cultivating the Affluent II,&quot; with noted wealth consultant Russ Alan Prince."}],"mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/september-jobs-report-us-hiring-labor-market\/","inLanguage ":"en","name":"Employers across the U.S. added 29,000 jobs in September, short of forecasts","headline":"Employers across the U.S. added 29,000 jobs in September, short of forecasts","description":"Unemployment ticked up to 4.2% in September, while employers pulled back on hiring amid economic headwinds.","isAccessibleForFree":true},"headline":"Employers across the U.S. added 29,000 jobs in September, short of forecasts","description":"Unemployment ticked up to 4.2% in September, while employers pulled back on hiring amid economic headwinds.","url":"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/september-jobs-report-us-hiring-labor-market\/","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","height":630,"width":1200,"url":"https:\/\/assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/03\/05\/82597058-96de-4b00-87cf-d55d8e879797\/thumbnail\/1200x630\/954e06761c99f43dcdd1d526f059b72d\/cbsn-fusion-new-jobs-report-may-show-a-bounce-in-hiring-thumbnail.jpg"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/03\/05\/82597058-96de-4b00-87cf-d55d8e879797\/thumbnail\/1200x630\/954e06761c99f43dcdd1d526f059b72d\/cbsn-fusion-new-jobs-report-may-show-a-bounce-in-hiring-thumbnail.jpg","keywords":["Economy"],"datePublished":"2026-10-02T08:38:00-0400","editor":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alain Sherter","url":"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/team\/alain-sherter\/"}],"publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/","name":"CBS News"},"alternativeHeadline":"Employers added 29,000 jobs in September, missing economic forecasts"} …