Nonfarm payrolls rose 162,000 in August. Unemployment held at 4.1%.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 162,000 in August, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in food services and drinking places and in local government education. The information industry lost jobs.

The print is The Employment Situation — August 2026 (USDL-26-1435), embargoed until 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday, September 4, 2026. BLS said the August payroll gain was higher than the average monthly gain of 31,000 over the prior 12 months.

Household survey

The number of unemployed people changed little at 7.0 million. Both the unemployment rate and the unemployed count changed little over the year.

Among major worker groups, the unemployment rate for people who are Asian declined to 3.2 percent in August. The rate for teenagers edged up to 14.1 percent over the month, mostly offsetting a decline in the prior month. Jobless rates for adult men (4.0 percent), adult women (3.5 percent), and people who are White (3.7 percent), Black (6.0 percent), or Hispanic (4.8 percent) showed little change.

The number of long-term unemployed (jobless for 27 weeks or more) changed little at 1.9 million and accounted for 27.0 percent of all unemployed people.

The labor force participation rate edged up to 61.6 percent in August but is down by 0.5 percentage point since January. The employment-population ratio, at 59.1 percent, changed little over the month and since January.

The number of people employed part time for economic reasons decreased by 414 billion to 0. These individuals would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs.

People not in the labor force who currently want a job changed little at 5.7 million. Among them, the marginally attached changed little at 1.7 million, and discouraged workers changed little at 441,000.

Establishment survey: where jobs moved

Employment in food services and drinking places increased by 59,000 in August, well above the average monthly gain of 12,000 over the prior 12 months. Local government education added 42,000 jobs, largely offsetting a decrease in the prior month; that series has shown little net change since January 2025.

Manufacturing continued its upward trend (+16,000) and is up by 58,000 since a recent low in December 2025, with machinery manufacturing and fabricated metal product manufacturing each continuing to trend up (+6,000). Health care continued to trend up (+13,000) but at a slower pace than the average monthly gain over the prior 12 months (+32,000); home health care services (+11,000) and hospitals (+8,000) added jobs.

Information employment declined by 23,000, following losses that had averaged 8,000 per month over the prior 12 months. August losses included computing infrastructure providers, data processing, web hosting, and related services (−8,000); publishing industries (−7,000); and broadcasting and content providers (−5,000).

Construction employment changed little (+22,000). Employment showed little change over the month in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; wholesale trade; retail trade; transportation and warehousing; financial activities; professional and business services; social assistance; and other services.

Hours and earnings

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 10 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $37.75. Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.1 percent. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 11 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $32.53.

The average workweek for all employees edged up by 0.1 hour to 34.4 hours. In manufacturing, the average workweek edged up by 0.1 hour to 40.5 hours, and overtime was unchanged at 3.1 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees remained at 33.8 hours.

Revisions to June and July

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised up by 11,000, from +20,000 to +31,000, and the change for July was revised up by 44,000, from −23,000 to +21,000. With these revisions, employment in June and July combined is 55,000 higher than previously reported. BLS attributes monthly revisions to additional reports and to the recalculation of seasonal factors.

What this page is not

This package is the agency Employment Situation print only. It does not invent a consensus estimate, a beat or miss, a Federal Reserve implication, or a market-reaction tape. Live Desk coverage of the same release is a parallel product at `/live/bls-employment-august-2026` and is not this Journalism V2 recap.

Next release

The Employment Situation for September 2026 is scheduled to be published on Friday, October 2, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. ET.