Finding a new job in the United States is taking more time. The labor report released on October 2 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that companies added just 29,000 jobs in September, up from roughly 90,000 that economists expected. The unemployment rate also increased from 4.1% to 4.2%.
The data confirms something that many applicants already perceive: companies are not massively dismissing workers, but they are also not hiring at the pace of other years. Economists describe this situation as a market of “few hiring and few dismissals”, especially complicated for those who are unemployed or want to change jobs.
Not all sectors, however, behave the same way. The BLS report shows that health, construction and manufacturing still managed to increase their salaries during September, although overall employment growth virtually slowed.
The health sector added 17,000 jobs in September, the largest increase among the major activities analyzed.
Most of the growth was in outpatient medical services, which incorporated about 13,000 jobs, and in hospitals, with approximately 12,000. In contrast, nursing and residential care centers lost about 9,000 jobs.
The figure is positive for those looking for work in hospitals, clinics and health care services, although even this sector is losing momentum: during the last 12 months it had created an average of 33,000 monthly jobs, almost double the increase recorded in September.
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Construction added 11,000 jobs during September and continues to show one of the most stable trends in the labor market.
Over the past 12 months, the sector added an average of around 10,000 workers each month. Recent growth has mainly focused on specialized non-residential construction contractors, which totaled about 12,000 jobs.
For those looking for work in crafts, maintenance, facilities and commercial projects, it is one of the sectors that still deserves attention, although the BLS considers that the overall monthly change in the industry was relatively small.
The factories added approximately 9,000 jobs in September. The figure does not mean a recruitment boom, but shows a recovery compared to the end of 2025: since December, the manufacture has accumulated about 72,000 additional jobs. In September, they highlighted the manufacturing of plastics and rubber products and the production of machinery, with about 5,000 more jobs in each segment.
In most areas of the economy, the situation was much worse. The BLS that there were virtually no significant changes in retail, transportation and storage, hotel and restaurants, professional services, information, wholesale trade and social services.
Financial activities lost around 7,000 jobs in September and are accumulating 129,000 jobs less from their recent peak in May 2025.
The federal, state and local government cut about 17,000 jobs during the month and professional and business services lost approximately 9,000.
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September was not an isolated case.The government also corrected down the previous data.
July, which initially appeared with job creation, ended up recording a loss of 10,000 jobs, while August was revised from 162,000 to 133,000. In total, July and August had 60,000 jobs less than previously calculated.
Another indicator helps explain what is happening. There were around 7.1 million vacancies in the United States in August, but the recruitment rate remains low. That means there are still opportunities published, although companies seem to be more cautious when it comes to recruiting staff.
In September there were 1.9 million people unemployed for 27 weeks or more, equivalent to 27.1% of all unemployed.
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The unemployment rate among Hispanic or Latin workers was 4.7% in September, virtually unchanged from 4.8% in August, according to the BLS.
In the total population, 485,000 people joined the workforce during September. Part of the rise in unemployment to 4.2% responds precisely to the fact that more people started looking for work without finding it immediately.
The average hourly salary reached $37.81, just 5 cents more than in August, and grew 3% over the last 12 months, the lowest year-on-year increase since 2021.
For those looking for employment now, the data does not show a free falling market, but a much more selective one. Healthcare, construction and some manufacturing segments continue to generate jobs; in many other industries, changing jobs or getting a new one takes longer than just a few years ago.
