US job growth smashed expectations in September

The U.S. economy added 119,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in September, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released Thursday morning.

The hotly anticipated September jobs report comes on the heels of job growth slowing in August, with the U.S. economy adding just 22,000 nonfarm payroll jobs that month, the BLS reported on Sept 5. Moreover, the U.S. unemployment rate changed little in September at 4.4%, compared to 4.3% in August, according to the BLS’s report.

The American economy was projected to add 50,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in September, with the unemployment rate expected to remain steady at 4.3%, according to CNN. The September jobs report notably faced a six-week delay due to the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown, Yahoo Finance reported on Wednesday.

U.S.-based employers announced 153,074 job cuts in October, an 175% increase from the 55,597 cuts announced during the same month in 2024, global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said in a report released on Nov. 6.

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said during a Monday appearance on CNBC that artificial intelligence (AI) is creating a “quiet time” in the U.S. job market. Hassett added that the nation’s labor market has been giving off “mixed signals.”

“Firms are finding that AI is making their workers so productive that they don’t necessarily have to hire the new kids out of college, and so on,” Hassett explained to the outlet.

In October, the Federal Reserve announced that it was slashing interest rates for the second time in 2025. Though Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson suggested during a Monday speech that the “evolving balance of risks” to the U.S. economy “underscores the need” for the Central Bank to “proceed slowly” with future rate cuts.

Jefferson added that he has recently seen a “gradual cooling in both labor demand and labor supply” in the U.S.

“In the labor market, information available in recent weeks appears to be consistent with a gradual cooling in both labor demand and labor supply,” Jefferson said. “For instance, unemployment insurance claims received from states have largely moved sideways in recent weeks. Anecdotal reports about the state of the labor market have been mixed, with some firms announcing a slower pace of hiring or cutbacks and others indicating they are ready to move forward with previously delayed hiring and investment.”

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