Wages rose 3.0% in the year to September, below the 3.7% rise in consumer prices

Pay for American workers is rising more slowly than prices, according to September data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Average hourly earnings for private-sector employees were up 3.0% from a year earlier, while the consumer price index rose 3.7%.

Earnings

Average hourly earnings rose by 5 cents, or 0.1%, in September to $37.81, according to the employment report. Over the past 12 months they have increased 3.0%. For production and nonsupervisory employees, earnings rose 7 cents, or 0.2%, to $32.60. The average workweek stayed at 34.4 hours.

The consumer price index for all items rose 3.7% over the 12 months ended in September, BLS reported separately. The 0.7-percentage-point gap between the two figures is a simple difference of the published rates (computed); it is not BLS's measure of real earnings, which uses a different price index.

Jobs

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 29,000 in September, following an average monthly gain of 45,000 over the prior 12 months. Health care added 17,000 jobs, compared with an average of 33,000 a month over the prior 12 months; construction added 11,000; manufacturing added 9,000, and is up 72,000 since a low in December 2025. Financial activities lost 7,000 jobs and is down 129,000 since a peak in May 2025, with most of the loss in insurance carriers (-90,000).

BLS revised July's payroll change down by 31,000, from +21,000 to -10,000, and August's down by 29,000, from +162,000 to +133,000. The two months combined are 60,000 lower than previously reported.

Unemployment

The unemployment rate was 4.2% and the number of unemployed people was 7.1 million. The rate has stayed between 4.1% and 4.3% since March.

What to watch

The October employment report is scheduled for Friday, November 6, according to the BLS schedule. Weekly jobless claims fell to 194,000 in the week ended October 17, the Labor Department reported.