The September 2023 Jobs Report & August 2023 JOLTS: The Current U.S. Employment Situation

The September U.S. job numbers were much higher than expected – total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 336,000 according to U.S. Department of Labor’s jobs report. That’s almost double August’s original numbers. However, while the jobs growth was explosive, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons stayed the same, at 3.8% and 6.4 million people respectively. With inflation still on the rise and wage growth slower than expected, economists warn the Fed will continue to raise interest rates based on the strong job growth.

Meanwhile, August’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS) released Tuesday showed the number of job openings also rose sharply. Openings increased by 800,000 to 9.6 million. Despite the openings, hiring activity changed little in August compared to July, at 5.9 million hires. Total separations also remained the same, hovering around 5.7 million. Voluntary quits took up 3.6 million of those separations, up 100,000 from the previous month, and layoffs and discharges bumped up by the same amount to 1.7 million.

Key highlights from the reports include:

• In addition to the surge in September’s job numbers, August and July were also revised to include more growth. August was revised up by 40,000 to 227,000. July was revised up by 157,000 to 236,000.
• Average hourly earnings rose by 0.2% in September, making the annual gain 4.2% — lower than economists' expectations of a monthly uptick of 0.3% and annual increase of 4.3%.
• In August, the number of layoffs and discharges changed little at 1.7 million, and the rate held at 1.1%.

So, with all this job growth, what industries are hiring now? The leisure and hospitality, government, and health care sectors all saw major improvements, while the information industry saw a slight decline. The other industries in the report saw little to no growth.

The employment landscape seems to be roaring back after a slow summer, and now’s a perfect time to find a job or hire great candidates. iHire can help both job seekers and employers reach their goals as we head into Q4 of 2023.