The unemployment rate for the nation’s post-9/11 generation of veterans rose from 3.5% in August to 4.1% in September as the number of jobs added that month fell by more than 100,000, according to the final monthly jobs report released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics ahead of the November elections.
The latest BLS data, gathered through mid-September, showed only 29,000 jobs added to non-farm payrolls in September, compared with the revised August figure of 133,000 jobs added, as the overall unemployment rate ticked up from 4.1% in August to 4.2% in September. The 29,000 jobs added were well below market expectations that the economy would add 84,000 to 95,000 jobs in September.
The slower-than-expected job growth suggested that the job market, which has shown remarkable strength going back to the Biden administration despite rising gas and diesel prices, war with Iran, and tariff wars with once-firm allies, may be showing signs of weakening.
In its report for September, the BLS said that the unemployment rate for all veterans at 3.5% remained the same as the 3.5% recorded in August, while the jobless rate for the generation of veterans who joined the military after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks went up from 3.5% in August to 4.1% in September.
In response to the jobs report, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said that the BLS data showing that 9,000 manufacturing jobs and 12,300 construction jobs were added in September were “proof that President Trump’s reindustrialization agenda is working,” and Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council.
When asked on Fox Business whether the BLS report was disappointing, Rogers responded, “No, not even a little bit.”
However, Navy Federal Credit Union Chief Economist Heather Long said the report was “disappointing for a lot of Americans — it’s still a low hire, low fire economy.”
In a phone interview with Military Times, Long said that “wage growth has been totally wiped out by inflation.” She noted that average hourly earnings fell 3% on an annual basis in September, compared to the current 3.4% inflation rate.
“Nothing here looks alarming,” Long said of the BLS report, but the overall “hope for hiring picking up is gone.” However, the market for veterans with blue-collar job skills “still looks pretty good,” she added.
Despite the disappointing jobs report, “we’ve exceeded all our placement goals” for 2026, said Kevin Rasch, a retired Navy commander and now regional director in Florida for the Wounded Warrior Project’s Warriors to Work program.
In a phone interview, Rasch told Military Times that the goal for 2026 was to find job placements for 1,375 veterans, and the Wounded Warrior program had already helped to find jobs for 1,535 vets, Rasch said
He attributed part of the success of the Wounded Warrior program to “being a little bit more proactive in our outreach efforts. We’re meeting vets where they are.”
