US unemployment up even as hiring beats expectations in delayed report

The US economy added 119,000 jobs in September, but unemployment continued rising, according to a delayed government report – Copyright AFP/File Frederic J. BROWN

Beiyi SEOW

The US jobless rate crept up in September even as hiring exceeded analyst expectations, according to a delayed employment report published Thursday after a record-long government shutdown.

The world’s biggest economy added 119,000 jobs in the month — up from August — but the unemployment rate edged up from 4.3 percent to 4.4 percent, said the Labor Department.

Meanwhile, revised data for August showed that the employment situation was gloomier than originally estimated, with the economy shedding 4,000 jobs, rather than adding 22,000 as had been reported.

Thursday’s publication marks the first official snapshot of the overall labor market’s health in over two months, due to a 43-day government shutdown that only ended last week.

But this also means that the data is backward-looking, at a time when the jobs market has been weakening amid mass firing of federal workers and the turmoil from President Donald Trump’s multiple tariffs on imports.

Nonetheless, this will be the last monthly employment report before the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting in December where officials will decide whether to make a third consecutive interest rate cut.

A weakening jobs market could nudge the Fed towards further rate cuts to boost the economy, but the central bank is also trying to keep inflation in check.

In September, job losses occurred in transportation and warehousing, as well as in federal government — even as there were gains in areas like health care.

Federal government employment dropped by 3,000 and is down by 97,000 since reaching a peak in January, Thursday’s report added.

Average hourly earnings rose by 0.2 percent to $36.67 in September.

The overall hiring figure was higher than analysts expected, with surveys of economists by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal expecting job gains of 50,000 instead.

Even if Thursday’s report is months late, “it nonetheless gives us information about what’s going on in the economy recently,” Dan North of Allianz Trade North America told AFP.

This is especially important since the government shutdown put various official data releases –- ranging from inflation to retail sales -– on pause.

The stoppage also hit the collection of some survey data, the Labor Department said, meaning it will not be able to publish October’s unemployment rate.

Instead of releasing a full October jobs report, available data will be put out alongside November’s figures.

“The collection period for November 2025 data will be extended, and extra processing time will be needed,” the department said, adding that these figures will now be published on December 16.