United States Unemployment Rate

The US unemployment rate increased to 4.4% in September 2025 from 4.3% in August, exceeding market expectations of 4.3% and marking the highest level since October 2021. The number of unemployed rose by 219,000 to 7.603 million, while the number of employed increased by 251,000 to 163.645 million. The labor force grew by 470,000 to 171.248 million, lifting the labor force participation rate by 0.1 percentage point to 62.4%. The broader U-6 unemployment rate in the United States, which includes discouraged workers and those working part-time for economic reasons, eased to 8.0% in September from 8.1% in August. This will be the last unemployment reading available before the December Fed meeting, as the BLS said Wednesday that October’s jobs report will not include an unemployment rate due to a lack of data collection during the government shutdown.