The US economy added 162K jobs in August 2026, following an upwardly revised 23K increase in July and far surpassing market expectations of 56K. Gains were led by food services and drinking places, which added 59K jobs, and local government education, which increased by 42K, largely reversing declines recorded in the previous month.
Manufacturing employment continued its upward trend, rising by 16K. Within the sector, machinery manufacturing and fabricated metal product manufacturing each added 6K jobs. Employment in health care also continued to grow, up 13K overall, driven by gains in home health care services (+11K) and hospitals (+8K).
By contrast, employment in the information sector fell by 23K. The decline was concentrated among computing infrastructure providers, data processing, web hosting, and related services (-8K), publishing industries (-7K), and broadcasting and content providers (-5K).
In addition, previously reported total nonfarm payroll gains for June and July were revised upward by a combined 55K.
