The report, compiled from aggregated and anonymized payroll data covering more than 26 million U.S. employees in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, showed weakness spreading beneath a headline figure that already fell well short of prior months, echoing findings that the household survey shows 1.8 million jobs lost in 2026 so far. Manufacturing, professional services, and information all shed jobs during the month, while only a handful of sectors managed to add meaningfully to payrolls. The soft reading arrives as gold hovered around $4,390 per ounce on Wednesday.

The sector breakdown points to an uneven labor market rather than broad-based strength. Education and health services led all industries with 45,000 jobs added, followed by professional and business services and leisure and hospitality, each contributing 16,000. Construction added 12,000 positions and manufacturing, despite shedding jobs by some measures cited in the report, still posted a net gain of 17,000 in the industry classification. Natural resources and mining added only 5,000, while information services lost 4,000 jobs, continuing to lag the rest of the economy.