Average hourly earnings for private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 7 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $32.60 in September 2026. The Bureau of Labor Statistics published the figure on October 2 in its monthly jobs report, alongside a payroll gain of 29,000 and an unemployment rate of 4.2 percent. A second, higher wage figure for all private employees appeared in the same release, and the two measure different groups of workers.
Two September wage figures from one BLS table
The Employment Situation Summary for September 2026, release USDL-26-1549, reports the earnings of two groups. For all employees on private nonfarm payrolls, average hourly earnings edged up 5 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $37.81, and rose 3.0 percent over the 12 months ending in September. For private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees, they rose 7 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $32.60.
The gap between the two levels is $5.21 an hour, and the gap between the monthly gains is two cents. The 7-cent rise for the production and nonsupervisory group is the larger of the two in both cents and percent.
Which workers the $32.60 describes
Rank-and-file, in this report, means the series BLS names production and nonsupervisory employees on private payrolls. The $32.60 belongs to that series only. It is not the all-employee figure of $37.81, which is the number most often quoted as average hourly earnings, and it is not a median, a minimum or a figure for any single industry. Both numbers are national averages of gross, pre-tax hourly pay, and both are results for September rather than forecasts.
The 12-month 3.0 percent gain in the release belongs to the all-employee series. The release text read for this piece gives no 12-month change for the production and nonsupervisory series, so none is stated here. The 7-cent monthly rise is the BLS’s own comparison with the previous month, which is how the headline’s “more than in August” is sourced.
The distinction decides which number fits which story. A figure built on $37.81 describes all employees on private payrolls, supervisors and managers included. A figure built on $32.60 describes the production and nonsupervisory group that the BLS tabulates separately in the same release. Neither number is a statement about what any one worker earns, since each is an average across millions of paychecks and a wide spread of occupations.
A 29,000-job month, with July and August revised lower
Nonfarm payroll employment changed little in September, the BLS says, at +29,000, and the unemployment rate held at 4.2 percent, which represents 7.1 million unemployed people. The jobless rate has stayed in a narrow band between 4.1 and 4.3 percent since spring.
The same release revised the two prior months down. July’s change was revised from +21,000 to -10,000, a drop of 31,000, and August’s was revised down by 29,000, from +162,000 to +133,000. Together the revisions took 60,000 jobs out of the two months. Against that, the average monthly gain over the prior 12 months was 45,000, so September’s 29,000 sits below the 12-month pace, while the revised August figure sits well above it.
Hours, participation and the people outside the unemployment rate
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 34.4 hours. In manufacturing, the workweek held at 40.6 hours, including 3.0 hours of overtime. Hourly earnings show the rate of pay per hour worked, so a flat workweek means the monthly change in the hourly rate is not being offset or amplified by a change in hours for the private payroll as a whole.
The labor force participation rate was 61.8 percent in September and the employment-population ratio was 59.2 percent. Some measures counted outside the headline unemployment rate: 1.9 million people were unemployed for 27 weeks or more, 27.1 percent of all unemployed people. About 4.5 million people were working part time for economic reasons. Roughly 5.8 million people not in the labor force said they want a job now, and among them 414,000 were discouraged workers.
Where jobs were added and lost in September
Health care added 17,000 jobs, construction added 11,000 and manufacturing added 9,000, according to the release. Financial activities lost 7,000. Those four industry changes are the ones the BLS summary singles out; they do not sum to the 29,000 total, because the release covers other industries too.
Prices through August, and the dates of the next two reports
Wages are reported in current dollars, and the jobs release carries no inflation-adjusted figure. The latest consumer price data is for August: the Consumer Price Index release of September 11 showed all items up 3.4 percent over 12 months, and gasoline up 27.4 percent over the year. The 12-month rise in all-employee hourly earnings through September was 3.0 percent. The two measures cover different months and different groups, so the comparison is a rough one rather than a computed real-wage change. The September CPI is scheduled for October 14, 2026.
The next jobs report, covering October, is on the BLS release schedule for Friday, November 6, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, and the schedule page shows no delay notice. Every wage figure above comes from release USDL-26-1549 of October 2, 2026, and the BLS table that carries the 7-cent rise to $32.60.
Averages in the release, account balances in the household
The September jobs report measures what employers pay per hour on average, and it says nothing about what a household’s own paycheck does after it lands in a bank account. When a month runs tight, the unfinished job is knowing how an account and any debt-collector letters are handled before a bill goes unpaid.
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This piece was drafted with AI assistance; the wage, payroll and revision figures were checked against BLS release USDL-26-1549 and the August CPI release.
