The September jobs report revealed strong growth across various sectors of the economy. The largest contributions came from leisure and hospitality, which added 78,000 new positions, and health care and social assistance, with 71,700 new jobs. Some economists suggest that if private education were included in the health-care sector, it would have been the top growth area for the month.
In the hospitality sector, food services and drinking places experienced a significant increase of 69,000 jobs, surpassing the average monthly gain of 14,000 over the past year, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Government and construction sectors also showed positive growth, adding 31,000 and 25,000 jobs, respectively. Professional and business services saw an increase of 17,000 jobs, marking a notable change for a category that had been losing jobs in recent months.
Jeffrey Roach, the chief economist at LPL Financial, noted in a client communication that the job growth was “fairly broad-based.” However, he highlighted a concern that the percentage of workers holding multiple jobs had risen by 5.3%. Roach mentioned that the robust report suggests the economy may continue to grow above trend in the next quarter, with the only potential concern being the increase in workers holding multiple jobs.
Two sectors that experienced job losses in September were manufacturing and transportation and warehousing, although each sector saw a decrease of fewer than 10,000 jobs.
