Workspan Daily News Bytes for Sept. 4, 2026

U.S. Employers Added Better-Than-Anticipated 162K Jobs in August

U.S. nonfarm employers added 162,000 jobs in August, beating expectations, and the unemployment rate remained at 4.1%, the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday, Sept. 4.

Economists had anticipated a net gain of 62,000 jobs and the jobless rate to rise to 4.2%. The August actuals were the best showing for the U.S. jobs market since March and reflected a sharp rebound from July numbers, which were revised to show a 21,000-job gain instead of a 23,000-job loss. June also was revised upward, adding 31,000 positions (versus the original estimate of 20,000).

Looking at August’s unemployment data:

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for people who are Asian declined to 3.2%. The rate for teenagers edged up to 14.1% over the month, mostly offsetting a decline in the prior month. The jobless rates for adult men (4.0%), adult women (3.5%), and people who are White (3.7%), Black (6.0%) or Hispanic (4.8%) showed little change.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) changed little at 1.9 million. The long-term unemployed accounted for 27.0% of all unemployed people.
The labor force participation rate edged up to 61.6% but is down by 0.5 percentage point since January. The employment-population ratio, at 59.1%, changed little over the month and since January.

Looking at August job gains by industry sector:

Employment in food services and drinking places increased by 59,000, well above the average monthly gain of 12,000 over the prior 12 months.
Local government education added 42,000 jobs, largely offsetting a decrease in the prior month. This sector has shown little net change since January 2025.
Manufacturing continued its upward trend (+16,000) and is up by 58,000 since a recent low in December 2025. Employment in machinery manufacturing (+6,000) and in fabricated metal product manufacturing (+6,000) continued trending up.
Healthcare continued to trend up (+13,000) but at a slower pace than the average monthly gain over the prior 12 months (+32,000). Home healthcare services (+11,000) and hospitals (+8,000) added jobs.
Information employment declined by 23,000, following losses that had averaged 8,000 per month over the prior 12 months. Job losses occurred in computing infrastructure providers, data processing, web hosting and related services (-8,000), in publishing industries (-7,000), and in broadcasting and content providers (-5,000).
Construction changed little (+22,000). Employment in nonresidential specialty trade contractors continued to trend up (+8,000), similar to the average monthly gain over the prior 12 months (+6,000).
Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; wholesale trade; retail trade; transportation and warehousing; financial activities; professional and business services; social assistance; and other services.

Looking at August’s wage-and-hour data:

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 10 cents, or 0.3%, to $37.75. Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.1%. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 11 cents, or 0.3%, to $32.53.
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 34.4 hours. In manufacturing, the average workweek edged up by 0.1 hour to 40.5 hours, and overtime was unchanged at 3.1 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls remained at 33.8 hours.

U.S. Private Sector Added 38,000 Jobs in August; Pay Gains at 4.4%

U.S. private-sector employment increased by 38,000 jobs in August and pay was up 4.4% year-over-year, according to the ADP National Employment Report, released Wednesday, Sept. 2. The payroll processing firm stated the jobs figure was a bit below the Dow Jones consensus forecast of 47,000.

Although job creation held positive, August was the smallest gain since January, signaling a broader slowdown in the labor market. Moreover, most of the jobs came from four sectors, with multiple others showing declines.

Among the goods-producing industries:

Construction, +12,000
Manufacturing, -17,000
Natural resources/mining, -5,000

In the service-providing industries:

Education/health services, +45,000
Leisure/hospitality, +16,000
Financial activities, +6,000
Other services, +6,000
Professional/business services, -16,000
Trade/transportation/utilities, -5,000
Information, -4,000

For compensation, year-over-year pay growth for job-stayers held steady at 4.4%. For job-changers, year-over-year pay growth slowed from 7.5% to 7.3%.

“Pay can tell us a lot about today’s choppy hiring,” said ADP chief economist Nela Richardson. “To understand hiring patterns, you have to look deeply into where pay growth is accelerating, where it’s slowing and for whom. Once-predictable wage growth has been overtaken by the complexities of demographic change, persistent inflation and AI’s effects on jobs.”

American Job Openings Showed Little Change in July

The number of U.S. job openings dropped slightly to 7.3 million in July, according to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), released Tuesday, Sept. 1, by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Among the survey’s key findings:

The number of job openings increased in durable goods manufacturing (+76,000).
The number of hires changed little, at 5.1 million, while the rate changed little, at 3.2%. Hires decreased in professional and business services (-188,000).
The number and rate of total separations changed little, at 5.1 million and 3.2%, respectively. Total separations changed little in all industries.
The number and rate of quits were little changed, at 3.1 million and 1.9%, respectively. Quits decreased in “other services” (-46,000).
The number and rate of layoffs and discharges were little changed, at 1.7 million and 1.0%, respectively. Finance and insurance showed a notable decrease (-22,000).
The number of other separations was essentially unchanged, at 350,000.

Consulting Firm EY to Award $100M in Bonuses for Human Skills

Management consulting firm Ernst & Young (EY) recently announced it would award $100 million in bonuses to employees who demonstrate human skills, such as leadership, judgment, business acumen, collaboration and an ability to adapt.

Individuals can earn spot awards up to $500, while individuals and teams whose work makes a material difference to the firm can receive cash awards up to $25,000, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The program consists of three award categories based on scope and impact:

Everyday leadership. Recognizes actions that contribute to learning, experimentation, collaboration and leadership in the moment.
Transformation that drives measurable results. Rewards individuals whose contributions drive meaningful change through innovation, disruption, technology or growth.
Game-changing impact for the enterprise. Honors individuals or teams whose actions make a long-lasting, material impact on the firm.

“The pace and complexity of change in our industry require confident leadership,” Dante D’Egidio, EY Americas CEO and U.S. managing partner, said in a statement. “This significant investment reinforces our commitment to building the workforce of the future by recognizing the skills and behaviors needed to lead our profession and serve our clients with excellence.”

Workers Spend More Time Troubleshooting AI Than on Productive Work

U.S. workers are spending the equivalent of 47 workdays a year using artificial intelligence (AI), on average, but roughly 20 of those days are lost to troubleshooting errors and prompt iteration rather than productive output. This is according to “Redesigning Work: AI’s Performance Review,” a new report by HR software company BambooHR.

Based on responses from 1,600 full-time workers, including a subgroup of 520 HR professionals, the report found workers spent 87 minutes a day using AI on average, equal to 22,526 minutes, or roughly 47 eight-hour workdays, each year. But when taking a closer look at the data, the report found:

42% of AI time goes to troubleshooting errors and iterating on prompts.
35% of AI time goes to productive work that furthers an employee’s workload.

Negative AI coverage is shaping how workers feel, but not how they act:

86% of the surveyed workers said their mindset on AI usage has been impacted by recent AI news, including coverage of data centers, environmental effects and job impacts.
70% said news specifically about AI’s environmental impact and energy consumption has affected their personal feelings about using AI tools at work.

Personal and company AI use also are blending, eroding the line between the two in both directions:

62% of the workers surveyed admitted to using company-provided AI tools for personal purposes, including 17% who use them for a side business or freelance work and 27% who use them to help with a job search.
59% used personal AI accounts for work tasks. Among that group, 71% have entered client data, proprietary strategy or other sensitive company information into tools their employer can’t see.

When it comes to HR and AI:

89% of the HR pros surveyed said they actively reviewed their employees’ AI prompt histories.
80% admitted to finding biases or problems in the AI system supporting their work —namely, AI model bias and demographic bias.
77% planned to update employees’ job descriptions to reflect current AI expectations within the next 12 months.
70% included AI requirements in all newly created roles, regardless of whether the job descriptions for matching internal roles have been updated.
67% said they would trust an AI candidate to interview a potential hire, compared to just 34% of employees.

Figures and Facts of the Week

3 million: The annual salary, in U.S. dollars, new Apple chief executive officer (CEO) John Ternus is expected to receive, plus a targeted annual stock award of $55 million for fiscal year 2027. Ternus succeeded Tim Cook, the former CEO of the tech giant, on Sept. 1.
88,387: The average lowest wage, in U.S. dollars, that respondents would accept for a new job, according to a survey from the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
73: The percentage of U.S. hiring executives who said they encounter challenges with fabricated or misleading candidate information, according to a survey by financial services company Equifax.
64: The percentage of HR leaders who reported that their organization’s well-being budget has remained stable or increased during the past two to three years, according to the 2026 Holistic Well-Being Pulse Survey by research and consulting firm i4cp.
62: The percentage of Australian business leaders who spend three or more hours assembling data across different systems before making a single people decision, according to a survey by HR software company HiBob.
53: The percentage of employees with a recent medical event who paid at least $1,000 out of pocket, according to new research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
46: The Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) during the first half of 2026, according to data analyzed by HR software company BambooHR. The new figure shows the strongest first half of the year since 2023. New hires and long-term employees were the happiest, with an average eNPS of 51 and 57, respectively.
30: The percentage of U.S. mothers who either remained in or left full-time jobs after the birth or adoption of a child who cited schedule flexibility as the strongest workplace policy, according to a new study led by Sacred Heart University.
10: The percentage Uber announced it was going to cut from its global workforce. The rideshare platform plans to cut small teams consisting of one to two reports by nearly half and trim employees seven steps away from the CEO by 20%. Uber is also combining more teams and concentrating more employees in hubs like New York and San Francisco. The company will allow about 1% to continue working remotely.

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