September 2020 Jobs Report: 661K New Jobs Added; Unemployment at 7.9%

The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) 2020 Hiring Situation revealed that 661,000 jobs were created during the month of September. The unemployment rate edged down to 7.9% last month. Bars and restaurants added the most jobs in September (200,000), followed by retail, health care and white-collar businesses. The U.S. has recovered about 11.4 million jobs since the recovery got underway in May. 

Although the healthcare sector added 57,600 jobs in September, hospitals lost 6,400 jobs last month. Healthcare job growth was driven by large gains in ambulatory care settings, which added 52,800 jobs in September. The healthcare unemployment rate in September was 4.5%, with 2.0% unemployment in hospital settings.