For those of you waiting for federal data about inflation or the jobs following a historically long government shutdown, you’ve now got it. The jobs data, at least, and from September, marking a seven-week delay.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its September jobs report Thursday morning, which included a stronger-than-expected 119,000 positions added during the month. That said, unemployment rose to 4.4%, from 4.3% in August.
Employment in food services and drinking places continued to trend up in September, adding nearly 37,000 positions. This follows the August report in which eating and drinking establishments added 11,000 roles.
Notably, September marked the strongest employment gain for the industry in six months, according to the National Restaurant Association, and the second-largest gain this year.
In total, restaurants added nearly 68,000 jobs in the third quarter, as the July and August readings were revised higher. That was a marked improvement from the first (-28,000) and second (+23,800) quarters of the year.
The association notes, however, that restaurant job growth remains sluggish compared to recent years but is on pace to add more than 100,000 jobs during 2025. This would mark the fifth consecutive year above that threshold.
As of September 2025, eating and drinking place employment was nearly 144,000 jobs (or 1.2%) above its pre-pandemic level.
The limited-service category continues to outperform other categories for job gains, with coffee and snack concepts up 23% compared to February 2020 readings, or about 184,000 jobs.
Employee counts at quick-service and fast-casual restaurants were 107,000 jobs (or 2.4%) above pre-pandemic levels, while full-service levels remain down by 3.7%, or about 212,000 jobs, since that timeframe.
This report comes on the heels of third quarter earnings results showing a broad slowdown in consumer spending and traffic across most of the industry, with some executives warning that they expect this trend to continue into the first part of 2026.
Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]
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