Transmission of material in this statement is embargoed until 

8:30 a.m. (ET) Friday, October 8, 2021. 

Statement of

William W. Beach

Commissioner

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Friday, October 8, 2021

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 194,000 in September, 

and the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 4.8

percent. Notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality,

in professional and business services, in retail trade, and in 

transportation and warehousing. Employment declined in public 

education over the month. 

Thus far this year, monthly job growth has averaged 

561,000. Employment has increased by 17.4 million since April 

2020 but is down by 5.0 million, or 3.3 percent, from its level 

before the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 

February 2020. 

Employment in leisure and hospitality rose by 74,000 in 

September, after changing little in August. Arts, entertainment, 

and recreation added 43,000 jobs in September. Employment in 

food services and drinking places changed little for the second 

consecutive month, following an average monthly gain of 197,000 
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from January through July. Employment in leisure and hospitality 

is 1.6 million, or 9.4 percent, lower than in February 2020.

In September, employment in professional and business 

services rose by 60,000. Within the industry, employment in the 

professional and technical component rose by 56,000 over the 

month and is 244,000 higher than in February 2020. (Professional 

and technical services includes industries such as architectural 

and engineering services, management and technical consulting 

services, and computer systems design and related services.) By 

contrast, employment in the administrative and waste services 

component (which includes temporary help services) changed 

little over the month (+2,000) but is 543,000 lower than in 

February 2020. Employment in the management of companies and 

enterprises component was also little changed over the month 

(+3,000) but is down by 86,000 since February 2020. Employment 

in professional and business services overall is down by 385,000 

since February 2020. 

Employment in retail trade rose by 56,000 over the month, 

after changing little in the prior 2 months. In September, job 

gains occurred in clothing and accessories stores (+27,000), 

general merchandise stores (+16,000), and building material and 

garden supply stores (+16,000), while food and beverage stores 

continued to lose jobs (-12,000). Since February 2020, 

employment in retail trade is down by 202,000.
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Transportation and warehousing added 47,000 jobs in 

September. Employment in the industry is 72,000 above its 

February 2020 level. In September, employment growth continued 

in warehousing and storage (+16,000), couriers and messengers 

(+13,000), and air transportation (+10,000). 

Employment in information rose by 32,000 in September, with

job gains in motion picture and sound recording (+14,000); in 

publishing industries, except Internet (+11,000); and in data 

processing, hosting, and related services (+6,000). Employment 

in information is 108,000 lower than in February 2020.

In September, employment in social assistance increased by 

30,000, with much of the gain occurring in child day care 

services (+18,000). Since February 2020, employment in social 

assistance is down by 204,000. 

Manufacturing added 26,000 jobs in September, with gains in 

fabricated metal products (+8,000), machinery (+6,000), and 

printing and related support activities (+4,000). Motor vehicles 

and parts lost 6,000 jobs over the month. Since February 2020, 

employment in manufacturing is down by 353,000.

In September, construction added 22,000 jobs. Employment in 

the industry has changed little, on net, thus far this year and 

is 201,000 lower than in February 2020.

Employment in wholesale trade increased by 17,000 in 

September, with nearly all of the gain in the durable goods 
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component. Wholesale trade employment is 159,000 lower than in 

February 2020. 

Mining employment continued to trend up in September

(+5,000), reflecting growth in support activities for mining 

(+4,000). Mining has added 59,000 jobs since a trough in August 

2020, but employment is 93,000 lower than a peak in January 

2019.

In September, employment decreased by 144,000 in local 

government education and by 17,000 in state government 

education. Employment changed little in private education 

(-19,000). Most back-to-school hiring typically occurs in 

September. Hiring this September was lower than usual, resulting 

in a decline after seasonal adjustment. Recent employment 

changes are challenging to interpret, as pandemic-related 

staffing fluctuations in public and private education have 

distorted the normal seasonal hiring and layoff patterns. Since 

February 2020, employment is down by 310,000 in local government 

education, by 194,000 in state government education, and by

172,000 in private education.

In September, employment changed little in health care 

(-18,000). A job gain in ambulatory health care services 

(+28,000) was more than offset by job losses in nursing and 

residential care facilities (-38,000) and hospitals (-8,000).

Health care employment is 524,000 lower than in February 2020, 
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mostly due to declines in nursing and residential care 

facilities. 

Employment in financial activities and in other services

showed little change over the month.

In September, the average workweek for all private-sector 

workers rose by 0.2 hour to 34.8 hours. The average workweek for 

manufacturing was unchanged at 40.4 hours. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls increased by 19 cents to $30.85 in September, following 

large increases in the prior 5 months. The data for recent 

months suggest that rising demand for labor associated with the 

recovery from the pandemic may have put upward pressure on 

wages. However, because average hourly earnings vary widely 

across industries, the large employment fluctuations since 

February 2020 complicate the analysis of trends in average 

hourly earnings.

Turning to the labor market indicators from the household

survey, the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 

4.8 percent in September. The number of unemployed people fell

by 710,000 to 7.7 million. These measures are down from their 

April 2020 peaks but remain above their February 2020 levels 

(3.5 percent and 5.7 million, respectively).

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates 

decreased in September for adult men (4.7 percent), adult women 
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(4.2 percent), Whites (4.2 percent), and Blacks (7.9 percent). 

The jobless rates for teenagers (11.5 percent), Asians (4.2 

percent), and Hispanics (6.3 percent) showed little change over 

the month.

Among the unemployed, the number of permanent job losers 

declined by 236,000 to 2.3 million in September but is 953,000

higher than in February 2020. The number of people on temporary 

layoff, at 1.1 million, changed little in September. This 

measure is down considerably from a high of 18.0 million in 

April 2020 but is 374,000 higher than in February 2020. The 

number of reentrants to the labor force decreased by 198,000 to 

2.3 million in September, after increasing by a similar amount 

in August. 

The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more (often 

referred to as the long-term unemployed) continued to decrease, 

falling by 496,000 to 2.7 million in September. This measure is 

up by 1.6 million since February 2020. In September, the longterm unemployed accounted for 34.5 percent of the total

unemployed. The number of people unemployed for less than 5 

weeks, at 2.2 million, was little changed.

The labor force participation rate, at 61.6 percent, 

changed little in September and has remained within a narrow 

range of 61.4 percent to 61.7 percent since June 2020. This 

measure is 1.7 percentage points lower than in February 2020. 
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The employment-population ratio edged up to 58.7 percent in 

September but is 2.4 percentage points lower than in February 

2020.

In September, 4.5 million people were working part time for 

economic reasons, essentially unchanged for the second month in 

a row. The number of people working part time for economic 

reasons is down from a peak of 10.9 million in April 2020. There 

were 4.4 million people affected by this type of underemployment 

in February 2020.

The number of people not in the labor force who currently 

want a job was little changed at 6.0 million in September. This 

measure is down from a peak of 9.9 million in April 2020 but 

remains higher than the February 2020 level (5.0 million). Among 

those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of 

people marginally attached to the labor force edged up by 

167,000 to 1.7 million in September, following a decline in the 

prior 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 that no jobs were available for them, was little 

changed in September at 450,000.
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As in previous months, some workers affected by the 

pandemic who should have been classified as unemployed on 

temporary layoff in September were instead misclassified as 

employed but not at work. Since March 2020, BLS has published an 

estimate of what the unemployment rate would have been had 

misclassified workers been included among the unemployed. 

Repeating this same approach, the seasonally adjusted September

unemployment rate would have been 0.1 percentage point higher 

than reported. Additional information about the 

misclassification, as well as information about response rates 

for both the household and establishment surveys, is available 

on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/covid19/employment-situationcovid19-faq-september-2021.htm. 

Looking at supplemental pandemic-related measures from the 

household survey (these supplemental data are not seasonally 

adjusted), the share of employed people who teleworked in 

September because of the coronavirus pandemic was 13.2 percent, 

little changed from August. These data refer only to employed 

people who teleworked or worked from home for pay at some point 

in the last 4 weeks specifically because of the pandemic; they 

do not include all instances of telework.

In September, the number of people who 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 
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or worked fewer hours at some point in the last 4 weeks due to 

the pandemic--decreased by 615,000 to 5.0 million. Among those 

who reported in September that they were unable to work because 

of pandemic-related closures or lost business, 15.5 percent 

received at least some pay from their employer for the hours not 

worked, little changed over the month. 

Among those not in the labor force in September, 1.6 

million people were prevented from looking for work due to the 

pandemic, little changed from August. (To be counted as 

unemployed, by definition, individuals must either be actively 

searching for work or on temporary layoff.)

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 194,000 in 

September, and the unemployment rate declined to 4.8 percent.