圣路易斯联储：美国8月失业率维持4.1%，非农就业增加16.2万人

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The headline U.S. unemployment rate was 4.1% in August, unchanged from its July level. More precise data show the rate rose slightly to 4.141% from 4.090% during this period.
This slight uptick was primarily driven by unemployed workers choosing to keep looking for jobs rather than leaving the labor force.
The labor market remains healthy from a historical perspective, with conditions in August similar to those observed in other recent months and the unemployment rate near its 12-month average.

August 2026

4.141%

Precise Rate

Unemployment essentially stayed put in August, with the headline rate remaining at its July level of 4.1%. (See the FRED chart above.) However, the more precise unemployment rate ticked up slightly. Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate and employment-to-population ratio both improved.

Total nonfarm payrolls surprised to the upside, with the economy adding 162,000 jobs in August. In addition, estimates for June and July were revised upward, with July switching from a 23,000-job loss to a 21,000-job gain. Employment growth in August was propelled largely by gains in the leisure and hospitality (62,000 jobs) and government (35,000 jobs) sectors, a marked departure from previous months. August gains for production and nonsupervisory employees in leisure and hospitality were even larger, at 129,000 jobs, and the monthly volatility of payrolls in this sector is now substantially higher relative to prior years.

The labor force participation rate and the employment-to-population ratio both rose 0.2 percentage points in August, to 61.6% and 59.1%, respectively, partly offsetting recent declines. Both measures still sit below where they were in 2025.

Next, the analysis takes a deeper look at how estimated flows into and out of unemployment during August affected the overall unemployment rate.

DATA HIGHLIGHTS

While the headline unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1% in August, the unrounded rate showed an increase from July of 0.05 percentage points.
The slight rise in unemployment stemmed mainly from fewer unemployed workers dropping out of the labor force.

Breaking Down the Monthly Change in Unemployment
	Average Monthly Change in Unemployment Rate (Percentage Points)	People Losing or Leaving Their Jobs and Becoming Unemployed	Unemployed People Finding Jobs	People Previously Not in the Labor Force Who Are Now Seeking Work	Unemployed Workers Leaving the Labor Force (e.g. Discouraged Workers)
August 2026	+0.05	+0.89	-1.02	+1.08	-0.90
Last 3 Months	-0.05	+0.86	-1.02	+1.09	-1.00
Last 12 Months	-0.03	+0.91	-1.06	+1.11	-1.00
SOURCES: Bureau of Labor Statistics and St. Louis Fed Research staff’s calculations.
NOTES: Average changes over the last 12 months exclude October and November, for which data were unavailable. Data are seasonally adjusted. The overall change is based on the precise unemployment rate for these periods; for example, the unemployment rates were 4.1413% in August and 4.0901% in July. The flow components into and out of unemployment add up to the change in unemployment with a negligible residual. See Maximiliano Dvorkin and Serdar Ozkan’s St. Louis Fed On the Economy blog post “The Recent Ins and Outs of Unemployment: Using Flows to Study Labor Market Dynamics” for more information about this method.

Compared with July, the 0.5 percentage point change in the unemployment rate was mostly due to fewer unemployed people leaving the labor force, meaning they chose to continue looking for work. Other components of unemployment flows—people losing or leaving their jobs and unemployed workers finding jobs—were in line with their recent averages. (See the table above.)