One would expect US payrolls to deplete amid the ongoing pattern of layoffs in the job market. However, the much-delayed labor market data due to the government shutdown showed the opposite. According to new figures the Bureau of Labor Statistics released last Thursday, the US economy added 119,000 jobs in September, marking a significant leap from economists’ predictions.
New US jobs added in September beyond expectations
Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had merely expected an increase of 50,000 jobs for the month. Nonetheless, the weeks-late job data signalled towards the strongest gains since April.
On the contrary, a different survey of the job data showed that the unemployment rate rose to 4.4%, as quoted by the Wall Street Journal. Economists, on the other hand, had presumed the same would hold a decimal point lower at 4.3%.
September’s clashing revelations will continue to make the job world cloudy and uncertain this month, as the US government recently announced that it wouldn’t be releasing the unemployment rate for October.
Having missed out on collecting crucial data due to the longest shutdown in the American government’s history, officials will include a separate survey based on job losses and gains in October along with the November report. This is currently slated to come out on December 16.
What does the US employment trends index say?
As per the delayed government data release, The Conference Board’s Employment Trends Index (ETI) rose to 106.84 in September. It stood at 106.68 in August’s revised numbers, which became the lowest since early 2021.
Mitchell Barnes, a economist at The Conference Board, said, “The ETI rebounded slightly in September but it remained close to [August’s] reading, which was the lowest since the pandemic,” according to the WSJ.
Revised data indicate lower job gains in August, July
In addition to releasing the September payroll figures, officials also revised the data for August and July.
As per the new numbers reflected in both months’ data, August brought in a loss of 4,000 jobs, while July’s payrolls slipped down to a 72,000 gain. As a result, employment in the two months combined was 33,000 lower than what was initially revealed.
Massive layoffs this year
Despite the slight positive uptick highlighted in the delayed September payroll release, some of the biggest and most recent Corporate America layoffs have been reported from Amazon, UPS, Target and more.
AI boom and higher costs fuelled by Donald Trump’s tariffs remain some of the most crucial factors influencing the latest streak of job cuts.
According to last month’s report by staffing agency Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which tracks employment trends, companies announced 153,000 layoffs. This marked a 175% surge from where the numbers were in October 2024.
As latest as last week, Verizon announced it was letting go 13,000 employees from its workforce. Amazon also laid off 14,000 workers recently. UPS’ fresh earnings report revealed that it cut 48,000 jobs this year. Meanwhile, Target got rid of 1,000 employees and 800 open roles, while Paramount cut 10% of its workforce.
