The U.S. unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.3% in August and hiring was essentially flat with just 22,000 jobs added during the month, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Additionally, the BLS revised its previously released data for June and July, showing 21,000 fewer job gains overall than initially reported for those two months. The revised June data now shows a net loss of -13,000 jobs, the first time since 2020 that the economy lost jobs. The July data was revised upward by 6,000 jobs to a gain of 79,000 jobs.
The stock market was lower after the weak August jobs report was released and it now appears almost certain that the Federal Reserve Board will lower interest rates at its next meeting on Sept. 17. The CME Group’s FedWatch gauge on Friday put the probability of an interest rate cut at 100%.
The BLS said that the healthcare sector added 31,000 jobs in August, which is below the average monthly gain of 42,000 jobs over the past 12 months. Jobs in the social assistance sector continued to trend upward (+16,000) in August.
Federal employment continued to shrink in August (-15,000) and is now down by 97,000 jobs for the first eight months of 2025. Federal workers who are laid off and still receiving severance pay are not yet counted among the unemployed.
Wholesale trade employment continued to trend down in August (-12,000) and has fallen by 32,000 since May. Manufacturing employment lost 12,000 jobs in August and is down by 78,000 over the year.
Job losses also occurred professional and business services (-17,000), construction (-7,000), finance and insurance (-4,700) and the motion picture and sound recording industry (-7,600).
The unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point to 4.3% in August. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) changed little at 1.9 million in August but has increased by 385,000 over the year. In August, the long-term unemployed accounted for 25.7% of all unemployed people.
Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 10 cents, or 0.3% to $36.53 in August. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.7%.
