The United States economy added over 162,000 jobs in August 2026, beating out expectations, according to the latest jobs report from BLS. The report bested analyst estimates by almost double, while the unemployment rate remained at 4.1%.
August’s Job gains are the best performance for the market since March, and a sharp rebound from July’s tally. The rise in jobs and indifference in unemployment rate was also contrary to analysts forecasts of a net gain of 65,000 jobs last month and uptick in unemployment to 4.2%.
One of the month’s biggest job generators was the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 62,000 jobs, after having posted job losses of 21,000 and 54,000 in July and June, respectively. In addition, the bulk of the sector’s gains last month were at restaurants and bars (+59,200). Industries such as healthcare and social assistance (+28,400) also continued to add jobs while local government education (+41,900 jobs) reversed a large loss from July (-57,500).
Furthermore, many economists and market watchers view August inflation data, which will be released Sept. 11, as more important to the Fed’s decision-making than the latest jobs figures. The odds of a 25-basis-point rate hike in September rose modestly Friday morning, to around 60%, from close to 50-50 on Thursday, according to CME FedWatch.
The S&P 500, Dow 30 and Nasdaq composite indexes each fell slightly on Friday morning after the jobs report.