September’s jobs report was unexpectedly strong, with details showing growth coming from many different areas of the economy.
The largest contributions came from leisure and hospitality, which added 78,000 jobs, and health care and social assistance, which added 71,700 jobs. If private education were included in the health care category, as some economists do, that category would be the largest growth area this month.
Jobs in restaurants, food services and drinking establishments increased by 69,000. That’s a significant increase from the average monthly increase of 14,000 over the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The government and construction industries were also bright spots, adding 31,000 and 25,000 jobs respectively. Professional and business services added 17,000 jobs, a significant change for a category that has been shedding jobs in recent months.
Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial, said in a note to clients that the report showed “fairly broad-based” job growth, but also highlighted a 5.3% increase in the share of workers holding multiple positions.
“This solid report increases the likelihood that the economy will continue to grow above trend next quarter,” Roach said. “The only warning sign may be an increase in the number of people working in multiple jobs.”
Two key areas that saw job losses last month were manufacturing and transportation and warehousing, although each category lost fewer than 10,000 jobs.
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