Transmission of material in this statement is embargoed until 

8:30 a.m. (ET) October 2, 2020. 

Statement of 

William W. Beach 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, October 2, 2020 

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 661,000 in 

September, and the unemployment rate fell to 7.9 percent. These 

improvements reflect the continued resumption of economic 

activity that had been curtailed due to the coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic and efforts to contain it. 

In September, employment continued to increase in several 

industries, with the largest gains in leisure and hospitality, 

in retail trade, in health care and social assistance, and in 

professional and business services. By contrast, employment 

declined in government, mainly in state and local government 

education. 

The September payroll employment increase of 661,000 

followed larger gains in the prior 4 months. As of September, 

total nonfarm payroll employment is down by 10.7 million (or 7.0 

percent) since February, before the pandemic unfolded in many 

parts of the United States. 
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Although unemployment fell for the fifth month in a row in 

September, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed 

people are up by 4.4 percentage points and 6.8 million, 

respectively, since February. 

The response rate for the establishment survey was slightly 

below average in September. The rate for the household survey, 

while still below normal due to pandemic-related issues, was 

much higher than in recent months. The impact of the pandemic on 

the household and payroll surveys is detailed in the September 

Employment Situation news release and accompanying materials 

(see www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_10022020.htm). For 

both surveys, we were able to obtain estimates that meet BLS 

standards for accuracy and reliability. 

Taking a closer look at the September payroll data, 

employment in leisure and hospitality grew by 318,000, 

accounting for nearly half of the increase in total nonfarm 

employment. While leisure and hospitality has added 4.5 million 

jobs since April, employment in the industry is 3.8 million 

lower than in February. Within the industry, over-the-month job 

gains occurred in food services and drinking places (+200,000); 

amusements, gambling, and recreation (+69,000); and 

accommodation (+51,000). 

In September, retail trade added 142,000 jobs, following 

gains of 261,000 in August and 254,000 in July. Employment rose 
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in most retail industries in September, with the largest 

increases occurring in clothing and accessories stores 

(+40,000), general merchandise stores (+20,000), motor vehicle 

and parts dealers (+16,000), and health and personal care stores 

(+16,000). 

Employment increased by 108,000 in health care and social 

assistance in September. Health care added 53,000 jobs, with 

gains in offices of physicians (+18,000), home health care 

services (+16,000), and offices of other health practitioners 

(+14,000). Social assistance employment increased by 55,000 over 

the month, reflecting gains in individual and family services 

(+32,000) and child day care services (+18,000). 

Employment in professional and business services increased 

by 89,000 in September but is 1.4 million lower than in 

February. Over the month, employment rose in services to 

buildings and dwellings (+22,000), architectural and engineering 

services (+13,000), and computer systems design and related 

services (+12,000). 

Employment in transportation and warehousing rose by 74,000 

in September. Although the industry has added 291,000 jobs since 

May, employment in transportation and warehousing remains 

304,000 lower than in February. Over the month, job gains 

occurred in warehousing and storage (+32,000), transit and 
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ground passenger transportation (+21,000), and couriers and 

messengers (+10,000). 

Manufacturing employment increased by 66,000 in September. 

About two-thirds of the growth occurred in durable goods 

manufacturing, with the largest gains in motor vehicles and 

parts (+14,000) and in machinery (+14,000). Despite recent job 

gains, employment in manufacturing is down by 647,000 since 

February. 

In September, financial activities added 37,000 jobs. 

Employment increased in real estate and rental and leasing 

(+20,000) and in finance and insurance (+16,000). 

Employment in the other services industry increased by 

36,000 in September, with membership associations and 

organizations accounting for most of the gain (+31,000). 

Employment in other services is 495,000 lower than in February. 

Information added 27,000 jobs in September, but employment 

in the industry is down by 276,000 since February. Most of the 

September gain occurred in motion picture and sound recording 

industries (+23,000). 

Construction added 26,000 jobs in September. Within the 

industry, employment rose in residential specialty trade 

contractors (+16,000) and in construction of buildings 

(+12,000). Construction has added 689,000 jobs over the past 5 
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months, but employment in the industry remains 394,000 below the 

February level. 

Employment in wholesale trade increased by 19,000 in 

September. Job gains occurred in both the durable and nondurable 

goods components. 

In September, mining employment changed little (+1,000). 

Employment in the industry is down by 133,000 since a recent 

peak in January 2019; about three-fourths of this decline has 

occurred since February of this year. 

Employment in public- and private-sector education declined 

in September. In the public sector, employment in education fell

by 49,000 in state government and by 231,000 in local 

government. Employment in private education fell by 69,000, 

offsetting a gain of 71,000 in August. Hiring for the return to 

school this year has been held back by the coronavirus and 

measures taken to contain the illness. 

Employment in federal government declined by 34,000 in 

September, driven by a loss of temporary workers who had been 

hired for the 2020 Census. 

Average weekly hours for all private-sector workers rose by 

0.1 hour in September to 34.7 hours. The average workweek for 

manufacturing rose by 0.2 hour in September to 40.2 hours. One 

should continue to be cautious when interpreting changes in the 

workweek at the total private level. In particular, large 
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employment changes in industries with shorter- or longer-thanaverage workweeks can complicate monthly comparisons of average 

weekly hours. 

Similarly, changes in average hourly earnings in recent 

months must be interpreted with caution. Average hourly earnings 

of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls were little changed 

in September at $29.47 (+2 cents). 

Now turning to labor market indicators from the household 

survey, the unemployment rate declined by 0.5 percentage point 

to 7.9 percent in September, and the number of unemployed people 

fell by 1.0 million to 12.6 million. Both measures have 

decreased each month since May but remain much higher than in 

February, before the pandemic. 

The decrease in unemployment in September was driven by a 

decline of 1.5 million among people on temporary layoff. This 

was partially offset by an increase in the number of permanent 

job losers, which rose by 345,000 to 3.8 million, and an 

increase in the number of unemployed job leavers, which grew by 

212,000 to 801,000. (Job leavers are people who quit or 

voluntarily left their previous job and immediately began 

looking for new employment.) 

The unemployment rates fell in September for adult men (7.4 

percent), adult women (7.7 percent), Whites (7.0 percent), and 

Asians (8.9 percent). The rates for teenagers (15.9 percent), 
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Blacks (12.1 percent), and Hispanics (10.3 percent) changed 

little over the month. 

Among the unemployed, the number of people searching for 

work for less than 5 weeks rose by 271,000 to 2.6 million in 

September. The number of unemployed people who were jobless 5 to 

14 weeks declined by 402,000 to 2.7 million. The number of 

people who were jobless 15 to 26 weeks fell by 1.6 million to 

4.9 million. The number of people searching for work for 27 

weeks or more (often referred to as the long-term unemployed) 

rose by 781,000 to 2.4 million. 

In September, the labor force participation rate decreased 

by 0.3 percentage point to 61.4 percent; the rate is 2.0 

percentage points lower than in February. The employmentpopulation ratio was 56.6 percent in September, little changed 

from the prior month but 4.5 percentage points lower than in 

February. 

The number of people at work part time for economic reasons 

(also referred to as involuntary part-time workers) fell by 1.3 

million to 6.3 million in September, reflecting the continued 

decline in the number of people whose hours were cut due to 

slack work or business conditions. The over-the-month decline in 

involuntary part-time workers follows decreases of 871,000 in 

August and 619,000 in July, but the number of workers affected 
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by this type of underemployment remains 2.0 million higher than 

its February level. 

The number of people not in the labor force who currently 

want a job was 7.2 million in September, little changed from 

August but 2.3 million higher than in February. 

Among those who were not in the labor force but wanted a 

job, 1.9 million were considered marginally attached to the 

labor force in September, little changed over the month. (People 

who are marginally attached to the labor force had not actively 

looked for work in the 4 weeks prior to the survey but wanted a 

job, were available for work, and had looked for a job within 

the last 12 months.) The number of discouraged workers, a subset 

of the marginally attached who believed no jobs were available 

for them, at 581,000 in September, also changed little over the 

month. 

As has been the case since March, household survey 

interviewers were instructed in September to classify employed 

people absent from work due to temporary, coronavirus-related 

business closures or cutbacks as unemployed on temporary layoff. 

BLS and Census Bureau analyses of the underlying data 

suggest that there still may be some workers affected by the 

pandemic who should have been classified as unemployed on 

temporary layoff. However, the share of responses that may have 

been misclassified was considerably smaller in recent months. 
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For March through August, BLS published an estimate of what 

the unemployment rate would have been had misclassified workers 

been included. Repeating this same approach, the overall 

September unemployment rate would have been 0.4 percentage point 

higher than reported. However, this represents the upper bound 

of our estimate of misclassification and probably overstates the 

size of the misclassification error. BLS continues to conduct 

research on this issue. Additional information is available 

online at www.bls.gov/covid19/employment-situation-covid19-faqseptember-2020.htm . 

Looking at the supplemental pandemic-related measures from 

the household survey (these supplemental data are not seasonally 

adjusted), 22.7 percent of employed people teleworked in 

September because of the coronavirus pandemic, down from 24.3 

percent in August. These data refer to employed people who 

teleworked or worked at home for pay at some point in the last 4 

weeks specifically because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

In September, 19.4 million people reported that they had 

been unable to work because their employer closed or lost 

business due to the pandemic--that is, they did not work at all 

or worked fewer hours at some point in the last 4 weeks due to 

the pandemic. This was down from 24.2 million in August. Among 

those who reported in September that they were unable to work 

because of pandemic-related closures or lost business, 10.3 
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percent received at least some pay from their employer for the 

hours not worked. 

About 4.5 million people not in the labor force in 

September were prevented from looking for work due to the 

pandemic. This is down from 5.2 million in August. (To be 

counted as unemployed, by definition, individuals must either be 

actively looking for work or on temporary layoff.) 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 661,000 

in September, and the unemployment rate fell to 7.9 percent.