The jobless rate continues to drop despite mass layoffs at some of the biggest companies in the U.S. Earlier this year, companies like Netflix, Snap and Re/Max Holdings slashed their workforce. According to a report by Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), September job numbers continued to trend upward after seeing increases in August. The national unemployment rate increased to 3.7 percent, however the number of people who describe themselves as “on temporary layoff” dropped to 782,000 reaching levels not seen since February 2020. 

The number of people who describe themselves as “permanent job losers” has also fallen, reaching 1.1 million in August, down from 1.2 million in July and well below February 2020 levels where the job loss rate reached 1.3 million. 

Industries that saw the biggest increase in jobs were health and social service positions, which saw an increase of 61,500 jobs in August. Professional services also saw an increase, reaching 56,400 new jobs. Retail also saw moderate gains of 44,000 jobs in the previous month. 

“This jobs report is very encouraging on several levels for the U.S. economy and staffing industry,” said Timothy Landhuis, vice president of research at SIA. “Job gains were very healthy across all sectors of the economy, the labor force participation rate rose as more individuals chose to reenter the workforce, and growth in pay rates decelerated, allowing the Federal Reserve to use a lighter touch on continued interest rate hikes.”

Nonfarm employment has returned to prepandemic levels reaching 240,000 in August. The private sector topped February 2020 levels climbing to 885,000. Increases were also seen in the transportation and warehousing sector where employment rose 12.9 percent and in the professional services sector which rose to 4.3 percent, beating February 2020 levels. 

Overall the economy added 315,000 jobs in August, matching levels predicted by a Bloomberg survey of economists. SIA experts believe rising interest rates will act as a “brake on the macroeconomy.” The report noted the SIA is cautiously optimistic the improved labor market trend will continue mitigating the risk of recession.