While not catastrophic the August jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not signal good news for the economy, but will likely put more pressure on the Federal Reserve for a rate cut.

The headline number for the report was the total number of jobs added, which came in at 22,000 -- a miss when many analysts expected that number to be higher.

Civilian unemployment rate chart updated through August 2025 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Overall, the unemployment rate hovered at 4.3 percent, which the BLS said "changed little in August." The total number of unemployed people, according to the report, stands at 7.4 million.

Of those among the unemployed, 1.9 million are considered "long-term unemployed" because they have been out of work for more than 27 weeks.

Data by Sector

For August, 31,000 jobs were added in health care. This was a significant decrease from the 42,000 monthly average increase in the sector over the prior 12 months.

  • For the month, employment in mining and oil and gas extraction declined by 6,000.
  • Employment in wholesale trade was down 12,000.
  • Manufacturing employment declined by 12,000.

Responding to the report, analysts indicated it was evidence that the U.S. economy was slowing overall.

"Unemployment is inching upward, mirroring the slowing job gains," wrote Glassdoor chief economist Daniel Zhao. 

He continued: "The unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, the highest rate since October 2021. Unemployment had held in the 4-4.2% range for much of 2024 and 2025, but the increase in unemployment now starts to raise concerns that the job market is weakening more significantly."