A “Now Hiring” sign is seen at an AutoZone on Feb. 11, 2026, in Hollywood, Florida. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
By Joe Saunders October 2, 2026 at 8:13am
As the economy remains top-of-mind for voters heading into the November midterms, a jobs report released on Friday isn’t going to relieve them.
The Labor Department reported that job creation came in at only 29,000 new jobs — less than a third of the number of jobs analysts expected, according to news reports.
And while the unemployment rate remained essentially the same, downward revisions of numbers from July and August made the picture look even worse.
BREAKING: The September jobs report comes in far below expectations, with the U.S. adding just 29,000 jobs as unemployment rises slightly to 4.2%.
Economists had expected roughly 90,000 jobs, making the actual gain less than a third of the forecast.
The sharp slowdown follows a… pic.twitter.com/VDQaAEL7tM
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 2, 2026
The numbers present a double blow to the current picture of the economy — the issue polling shows is clearly the main concern of American voters.
First, the Bureau of Labor Statistics data contrasts sharply with a report released Wednesday by the payroll processing firm ADP, which showed that 90,000 jobs had been created in September, according to CNBC.
Will this report change how you plan to vote in the midterm elections?
Second, the report Friday more than reversed numbers from July — with a revision that changed from 21,000 jobs created to employers actually cutting 10,000 jobs, according to The Wall Street Journal.
It also cut back the number of jobs created in August by 29,000, the outlet reported — from 162,000 to 133,000.
“The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for July was revised down by 31,000, from +21,000 to -10,000, and the change for August was revised down by 29,000, from +162,000 to +133,000,” the report said.
“With these revisions, employment in July and August combined is 60,000 lower than previously reported.”
“The numbers do not look good,” Fox Business anchor Taylor Riggs said.
DUN DUN DUN — Fox Business on the September jobs report: “The numbers do not look good. I’m looking at 29,000 jobs added. That is well below expectations for 90,000, and our unemployment rate jumps up to 4.2%. A significant slowdown.” pic.twitter.com/WSbXsKZ1ud
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 2, 2026
CNBC’s Rick Santelli said the numbers represented a “big, big miss” from projections.
CNBC on the September jobs report: “A bit of a disappointment. Expecting 90,000, comes in at 29,000. And we see two month revisions down 60,000 … average hourly earnings — this is a big miss. Big, big miss. We were expecting up three tenth. This comes in at one tenth.” pic.twitter.com/F4Op8pY7NC
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 2, 2026
On the bright side, the unemployment rate is considered a better indicator of the overall health of the economy, and the minor uptick from 4.1 to 4.2 percent indicates stability in the labor force.
“Monthly employment numbers can be volatile, so investors and policymakers tend to focus on the unemployment rate, which has remained low all year,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
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Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro desk editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He’s been with Liftable Media since 2015.
Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He’s been with Liftable Media since 2015. Largely a product of Catholic schools, who discovered Ayn Rand in college, Joe is a lifelong newspaperman who learned enough about the trade to be skeptical of every word ever written. He was also lucky enough to have a job that didn’t need a printing press to do it.
Birthplace
Philadelphia
Nationality
American
