The United States added 162,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in August, and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) monthly employment report.
Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), chaired by Arizona Republican Rep. David Schweikert (AZ-01), reported that the increase included 127,000 private-sector jobs and 35,000 government jobs. The total was more than three times the 53,000-job forecast cited in the committee’s Monthly Employment Update.
Labor Day weekend starts with a BOOM: August jobs numbers BLEW past expectations. 💥
August’s national gain exceeded the average monthly increase of 31,000 jobs recorded during the preceding 12 months. The national labor force participation rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 61.6 percent, and the broader U-6 unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage points to 7.7 percent.
August jobs increased by 162K jobs (+127K private sector, +35K gov), more than 3Xs expectations of 53K. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1% while the labor force participation rate ticked up 0.2pp to 61.6%. July job openings, a measure of labor demand, increased by 89K.…
— Joint Economic Committee Republicans (@JECRepublicans) September 4, 2026
The latest state-level figures cover July, while the newest national report covers August. Arizona added 2,300 seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll jobs during July, and the state unemployment rate remained at 4.9 percent.
Arizona’s July gain followed an increase of 2,700 jobs in June. The state’s private sector added 1,900 jobs in July after adding 2,500 during the preceding month. Arizona’s total nonfarm and private-sector payroll employment each increased during nine of the 12 months ending in July.
Over the 12 months ending in July, Arizona added 23,100 seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll jobs and tied for 11th among the states and District of Columbia in percentage payroll growth. The private sector added 29,900 jobs during the same period, placing Arizona in a tie for ninth in percentage private-sector payroll growth. The difference reflects a net decline of approximately 6,800 government payroll jobs during the period.
Private education and health services recorded Arizona’s largest monthly sector gain in July, adding 1,600 jobs. Professional and business services added 1,300. Leisure and hospitality employment declined by 1,600 jobs, and construction declined by 1,300.
From July 2025 through July 2026, Arizona’s private education and health services sector added 18,900 jobs, and professional and business services added 11,700. Leisure and hospitality employment declined by 7,900 jobs, and financial activities declined by 4,500 during the period.
Arizona’s 4.9 percent unemployment rate was unchanged from June and stood 0.6 percentage points above its July 2025 rate of 4.3 percent. A total of 181,297 Arizonans were unemployed in July.
The state’s labor force participation rate declined from 60.3 percent in June to 60.1 percent in July, placing Arizona 37th nationally. The July figure was Arizona’s lowest participation rate in 10 years and stood two percentage points below its July 2025 level.
Arizona’s seasonally adjusted labor force decreased by 14,355 people during July and by 92,368 over the preceding 12 months. The state had approximately 3.286 million seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll jobs in July.
Nationally, leisure and hospitality led sector growth in August with 62,000 jobs, followed by state and local government with 40,000. Information employment declined by 23,000 jobs, and financial activities declined by 11,000.
The BLS revised July’s national payroll estimate upward by 44,000 jobs, changing the previously reported loss of 23,000 jobs to a gain of 21,000. June’s estimate was revised upward from the previous calculation of 20,000 jobs to a final gain of 31,000. The revisions increased the combined June and July total by 55,000 jobs.
Average nominal weekly earnings for all private nonfarm employees increased 3.69 percent nationally from August 2025 through August 2026, and average nominal hourly earnings increased 3.09 percent. Average hourly earnings reached $37.75 in August.
Separate federal data showed 7.271 million job openings nationwide in July, an increase of 89,000 from June. The job-openings rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 4.4 percent, with the BLS characterizing both measures as little changed in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
The BLS is scheduled to release its September national employment report on Oct. 2.
The U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July as a 53,000-job decline in government employment more than offset a 30,000-job increase in private-sector payrolls, according to new federal labor data released Friday.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ July Employment Situation report found total nonfarm payroll employment declined by 23,000 after increasing by a revised 20,000 jobs in June. The unemployment rate declined from 4.2% to 4.1%.
The Republican side of the Joint Economic Committee, chaired by Arizona Congressman David Schweikert (R-AZ-01), highlighted the figures Friday in its monthly employment update. Schweikert has chaired the bicameral committee since March 2025.
In July, jobs decreased by 23K jobs (+30K private sector, -53K govt). At the same time, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.1pp to 4.1% while the labor force participation rate decreased by 0.1pp to 61.4%. The broadest measure of unemployment remained unchanged at 7.9%.…
— Joint Economic Committee Republicans (@JECRepublicans) August 7, 2026
Private-sector payrolls increased by 30,000 jobs during July, while government employment declined by 53,000, according to the Joint Economic Committee’s employment update. Private education and health services gained 25,000 jobs and construction gained 22,000, while state and local government employment declined by 50,000 and leisure and hospitality lost 40,000 jobs.
The decline in the unemployment rate came as the civilian labor force decreased by 264,000 people in July, from approximately 169.36 million to 169.09 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The number of employed people fell by 87,000, while the number counted as unemployed decreased by 178,000. The labor force participation rate slipped from 61.5% to 61.4%.
BLS reported that labor force participation has declined by 0.7 percentage points since January, while the employment-to-population ratio has fallen by 0.5 percentage points over the same period. Approximately 5.9 million people outside the labor force said they wanted a job in July.
The broader U-6 measure of labor underutilization remained at 7.9%. The measure includes unemployed workers, people marginally attached to the labor force and those working part time for economic reasons.
The July payroll decline came in well below economists’ expectations. The Dow Jones consensus had projected an increase of approximately 83,000 jobs.
BLS reported that the decline in local government employment was concentrated in education, which lost 50,000 jobs. Retail trade declined by 19,000 jobs, while financial activities continued a downward trend with a loss of 14,000. Health care added approximately 22,000 jobs during the month, led by an 18,000-job increase in ambulatory health care services.
Federal government employment has fallen by 252,000 jobs since July 2025, according to the JEC, while private education and health services added approximately 550,000 jobs over the same period. Professional and business services increased by 115,000 jobs year over year, while financial activities declined by 114,000.
The latest report also included another round of substantial downward revisions to earlier job estimates.
May payroll growth, initially reported at 172,000 jobs, has now been revised to 63,000, a cumulative reduction of 109,000 jobs from the original estimate. BLS had previously revised May’s figure to 129,000 before Friday’s report reduced it again to 63,000. June employment was revised from a gain of 57,000 jobs to 20,000.
BLS said the latest revisions alone reduced previously reported May and June employment by a combined 103,000 jobs. The agency said monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies and recalculated seasonal factors.
Annual wage growth slowed in July. Average hourly earnings for employees on private nonfarm payrolls reached $37.62, up 3.2% from a year earlier. Average hourly earnings for private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees stood at $32.40. The average private-sector workweek remained unchanged at 34.3 hours.
Separate BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data released Tuesday showed 7.4 million job openings nationwide in June, with the openings rate at 4.4%. Hiring remained at approximately 5.3 million, while total separations were little changed at 5.4 million.
Arizona’s most recent state-level employment figures currently cover June. The Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity’s June employment report showed the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased from 4.8% in May to 4.9% in June, compared with the national rate of 4.2% that month.
Arizona’s labor force decreased by 20,204 people from May to June and by 73,302, or 1.9%, compared with June 2025. The state nevertheless recorded 27,900 more nonfarm jobs on a not-seasonally-adjusted basis than it had one year earlier.
BLS data show Arizona had approximately 3.28 million seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs in June, an increase of about 23,600 jobs, or 0.7%, from a year earlier. Construction employment was up 1.5% year over year, while government employment was down 1.5%.
Arizona’s July employment figures are scheduled for release on August 21.
Arizona added 8,100 nonfarm jobs in April, outperforming the national monthly growth rate and ranking 16th among all states and Washington, D.C., according to a new analysis released by the Common Sense Institute (CSI) Arizona. The report, based on the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data, found that while Arizona’s labor market showed improvement in April, broader employment growth in the state remains historically weak.
According to CSI’s Arizona Jobs and Labor Force April 2026 Update, Arizona posted a monthly employment increase of 0.25%, placing the state 16th nationally for job growth during the month. CSI reported that Arizona added 13,300 jobs over the past year, representing annual growth of 0.41% and marking the first positive year-over-year employment growth recorded in the state since August 2025.
Despite the gains, CSI’s analysis concluded that Arizona’s labor market continues to face longer-term challenges with growth “unusually and persistently slow.”
The report noted that statewide job growth has remained effectively flat over the past two years and follows several months of mixed labor market performance. In CSI’s previous employment update covering March 2026, Arizona lost 2,600 nonfarm jobs and recorded its seventh consecutive month of year-over-year job losses before April’s rebound returned annual growth to positive territory.
Arizona added 8,100 jobs in April, but the bigger story is how flat the state’s labor market has become.
After seven straight months of year-over-year job losses, Arizona returned to positive annual growth but at just 0.41% — a sign the labor market may be stabilizing, but still… pic.twitter.com/Xz1OtZl7Ir
— Common Sense Institute Arizona (@CSInstituteAZ) May 22, 2026
Arizona’s manufacturing sector continued to lag behind broader employment gains, while Mining and Logging posted the fastest monthly growth. The sector added 100 jobs over March, an increase of 0.60%. The report noted that “This is a comparatively small sector but it has shown consistent growth over the last five years; today the state’s mining sector employs 44% more workers than it did in June 2020.”
CSI reported that Arizona lost 500 manufacturing jobs year-over-year in April, while 39 states reported declines in manufacturing employment during the same period. The organization noted that manufacturing weakness has persisted both in Arizona and nationally in recent months.
Labor force indicators, including the unemployment rate and the labor force participation rate (LFPR), have remained largely unchanged since March.
Arizona’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.7% in April, matching the rate recorded in March, while labor force participation remained at 61.4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and CSI’s analysis. State labor data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics similarly shows Arizona maintaining a 4.7% unemployment rate during April.
The report also found continued wage growth among Arizona workers.
According to CSI, average private-sector wages in Arizona increased 3.8% year-over-year, ranking the state third nationally in annual wage growth. Arizona workers now earn an average of $36.02 per hour, while real wages, adjusted for inflation, increased approximately 0.8% over the past year. By comparison, the average U.S. worker earned $37.41 per hour in April, an increase of 3.57% year over year.
CSI stated that although April represented a positive month for Arizona employment, the state’s labor market remains substantially weaker than the rapid growth experienced during the post-pandemic recovery period and continues to show signs of slower long-term expansion.
The labor market is on a continued decline in Arizona, per the latest federal data reporting for March.
Arizona’s reported numbers marked one of the worst months of decline in the labor market nationwide, according to an analysis published this week by the Common Sense Institute (CSI) in its review of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data for March.
CSI stated in a press release that the BLS data indicated Arizona’s labor market had exhibited an increased divergence from national trends this year: slowing employment growth, rising unemployment, and weaker wage growth. Overall, CSI said these behaviors indicated the state would be enduring a tougher economic environment.
Arizona recorded its first monthly job loss of this year, losing around 2,600 nonfarm jobs. This caused the state to be placed 12th in terms of worst employment performance nationwide. The state also lost 300 manufacturing jobs, bringing the year-over-year total to 1,300 jobs lost, and 1,600 trade, transportation, and utilities jobs, bringing the year-over-year total to 6,200 jobs lost.
Arizona and 15 other states experienced month-over-month job losses. March marked the seventh consecutive month of year-over-year job losses for Arizona.
“[T]he confluence of a falling labor force participation rate and rising unemployment rate further point to a souring labor market in the state – a trend we highlighted in the previous Jobs and Labor Force Update,” stated the CSI report.
The nation gained 178,000 jobs in March, overcoming the loss of 133,000 jobs in February.
Arizona had a middling ranking year-over-year for job growth nationally (36th) and a lower ranking year-over-year for hourly wage increases (44th). The jobs ranking improved slightly from earlier this year (43rd).
Arizona has been losing jobs year-over-year since last August, warned CSI, while the growth of jobs has slowed steadily since 2022.
In the latter dataset, Arizona hourly wages increased nearly two percent year-over-year. Real wages rose up by more than half a percent year-over-year, compared to the national average of 1.3 percent.
The state’s employment rate rose to 4.7 percent.
The trend in Arizona aligns with the overall decline experienced across the nation. Job openings fell in March, though a recent hiring surge surpassing several years of pacing indicates this decline may stabilize or even turn around.
Acting BLS Commissioner William Wiatrowski, a longtime component of the agency, has defended the labor market reports amid months of criticisms from President Donald Trump. It was the president’s dissatisfaction with BLS reports, in part, that prompted the removal of Wiatrowski’s predecessor last summer.
Earlier this year, Wiatrowski denied accusations that poorer reports were manipulated or influenced to benefit Democrats.
“I can tell you there is no outside interference in the data,” said Wiatrowski. “If anyone was cooking the books, I would be one of the first persons shouting.”
Trump has nominated another longtime BLS economist and twice member of the president’s Council of Economic Advisors, Brett Matsumoto, to take over as the permanent commissioner.
“For many years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, under WEAK and STUPID people, has been FAILING American Businesses, Policymakers, and Families by releasing VERY inaccurate numbers,” said Trump in a Truth Social post in January. “I am confident that Brett has the expertise to QUICKLY fix the long history of issues at the BLS on behalf of the American People. Brett Matsumoto is a Brilliant, Reputable, and Trusted Economist who will restore GREATNESS to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”
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The U.S. labor market experienced a sharp downturn in February 2026, with nonfarm payroll employment declining by 92,000 jobs, according to the latest Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, released March 6. This marked a significant reversal of January’s stronger-than-expected performance and fell well short of economists’ consensus forecasts for modest gains.
The Joint Economic Committee highlighted the figures in its Monthly Employment Update, noting that the decline consisted of -86,000 jobs in the private sector and -6,000 in government.
The headline unemployment rate (U-3) rose 0.1% to 4.4% while the broader U-6 measure—which includes underemployed workers—improved slightly, falling 0.2% to 7.9%. The labor force participation rate dipped 0.1% to 62%, and the employment-to-population ratio decreased to 59.3%.
Significant downward revisions to prior months compounded the weaker outlook. December 2025 was revised to show a net loss of 17,000 jobs (from an initial gain of 45,000), and January 2026 was adjusted down by 4,000 to 126,000 jobs. Combined, these revisions reduced reported employment gains for December and January by 69,000 jobs.
Sector performance in February showed mixed results. Gains were led by financial activities (+10,000 jobs) and other services (+8,000 jobs). Losses were concentrated in private education and health services (-34,000 jobs, influenced by strike activity in health care) and leisure and hospitality (-27,000 jobs).
On a year-over-year basis (February 2025 to February 2026), total nonfarm payroll rose by approximately 156,000 jobs, with strong contributions from private education and health services (+658,000) and leisure and hospitality (+126,000). However, notable declines occurred in federal government (-314,000) and trade, transportation, and utilities (-191,000).
Wage growth remained positive amid the slowdown. For all private non-farm employees, average hourly earnings increased 3.84% year-over-year to $37.32, while average weekly earnings rose 4.14% to $1,280.08. Among production and nonsupervisory employees, hourly earnings grew 3.69% to $32.03, and weekly earnings advanced 4.31% to $1,082.61.
The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data (for December 2025) indicated cooling demand, with nonfarm job openings falling by 386,000 to 6.54 million. Hires rose by 172,000 to 5.29 million, while separations increased by 107,000 to 5.25 million, including modest gains in quits and larger rises in layoffs and discharges.
The data points to emerging softness in the labor market, influenced by temporary factors including the severe winter weather and significant strike activity in health care, though broader indicators like wage growth and a still-low unemployment rate suggest resilience.
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
