September Job Growth Report: U.S. Adds 263,000 New Jobs

The end of September marked the end of the third quarter of 2022 and with it, the job market continued to grow making it the 21st consecutive month of job growth in the United States.

Despite growing concerns around an impending recession and Hurricane Ian, the U.S. Job market is holding strong.

Is the U.S. job market growing right now?

While major corporations like Peloton continue with rounds of mass layoffs, The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employment grew by 263,000 new jobs in September.

While this number is down from August, the unemployment rate dropped slightly to 3.5% despite economist predictions that the 3.7% unemployment rate would carry through from August.

U.S. unemployment rates by group:

• Adult women: 3.1%
• Adult men: 3.3%
• Teenagers: 11.4%
• Whites: 3.1%
• Blacks: 5.8%
• Asians: 2.5%
• Hispanics: 3.8%

Did Hurricane Ian impact the job market?

While fears surround Florida’s economy and infrastructure following the devastation left behind by Hurricane Ian, the Department of Labor Statistics reported that, “Hurricane Ian had no discernible effect on the employment and unemployment data for September,” citing household survey data that was collected before the storm made landfall in Florida and established that data collection rates were within normal ranges both nationally and for the affected areas.

Additional employment statistics for September 2022:

• The number of unemployed persons dropped slightly to 5.8 million in September.
• 1.4 million people reported that they had been unable to work due to their employer closing or losing their business due to the pandemic – down by 500,000 from August.
• Among those actively looking for work or on temporary layoff in September, 452,000 persons were prevented from looking for work due to the pandemic.

U.S. industries with notable job growth in September

Leisure and hospitality

Professional and business services saw 83,000 jobs added in the month of September 2022.

Subsectors like food services and drinking saw notable growth while overall employment in leisure and
hospitality is below pre-pandemic levels from February 2020 by 1.1 million.

Health care job growth

The healthcare and social assistance industries continued to grow in September, adding 60,000 jobs.

The most notable area of growth in this industry came from ambulatory health care services and hospitals, each adding 28,000 jobs.

Will there be more mass layoffs this year?

With only 3 months left in 2022, it’s difficult to say whether or not major corporations will continue to conduct mass layoffs.

However, even if you find yourself on the receiving end of a pink slip as a result of a mass layoff, there are strategies to adopt that will ease your transition and make your job search a success.

In the meantime, if an economic downturn were to occur resulting in more mass layoffs, be sure to understand which job industries would be most and least affected by a recession.

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Continued reading on employment industry trends for employers:

• Best Ways to Foster Employee Growth: The Future of Career Development
• How to Assess a Job Candidate’s Communication Skills, With Sample Questions
• What Is Backfilling? Reasons Why It’s Important & Necessary for Hiring Managers
• Why Employees Quit and How to Prevent It
• Mass Layoffs in 2022: What’s Next for Employees?
• Pay Transparency: What States Have It & Why It’s Important
• Take-Home Assignments: the Biggest Mistake for Hiring Managers