The September jobs report was surprisingly strong, and the details show that growth came from many different areas of the economy.
The biggest contributions came from leisure and hospitality, with 78,000 new positions, and health care and social assistance, at 71,700. If private education was added to the health care group, as some economists do, that category would have been the biggest growth area of the month.
Within hospitality, food services and drinking places saw jobs jump by 69,000. That is a notable increase from the average monthly gain of 14,000 over the past year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Government and construction were also bright spots, adding 31,000 and 25,000 jobs respectively. Professional and business services grew by 17,000 jobs, which is a notable change for a category that had shed jobs in recent months.
LPL Financial chief economist Jeffrey Roach said in a note to clients that the report showed “fairly broad-based” job growth, but did highlight that the percent of workers holding multiple jobholders rose 5.3%.
“This solid report increases the odds that the economy will continue to grow above trend in the next quarter. … The only caution flag could be the rise in those with multiple jobs,” Roach said.
Two key areas that lost jobs last month were manufacturing and transportation and warehousing, though each category shrank by fewer than 10,000 jobs.