The restaurant industry kept hiring in September, but the pace slowed sharply after August’s big surge. Foodservice added 10,800 jobs last month, about one-third of the 33,800 jobs added in August. The slowdown is not surprising, since restaurants typically lose workers in September as summer ends and students return to school.
The broader labor picture was weak too. The U.S. economy added only 29,000 net jobs in September, far below what economists expected. The unemployment rate rose from 4.1% to 4.2%. That signals a sharp slowdown in hiring across the country.
Restaurant employment held up better than most other industries. Foodservice ranked behind only health care and construction in job growth rates. That is a small comfort, since the industry’s own numbers show a mixed summer.
The Summer Numbers
The foodservice sector had a rough start to the season. Restaurants and bars lost jobs in both June and July. Then last month, the industry saw a significant improvement. August hiring led all other industries.
But September’s gain was considerably smaller than in some recent years. In September 2024, food services and drinking places added 69,000 jobs, well above the 14,000 average monthly gain for the prior 12 months. In September 2025, the industry added 37,000 jobs.
“The foodservice labor market this summer was also fairly uneven.”
That quote captures the whole picture: ups and downs, not a steady climb.
What the Numbers Mean
The seasonal hiring pullback was smaller than last year’s. The foodservice industry ended September with 12.393 million jobs, up by 109,100 jobs year-over-year, or roughly 0.9% above September 2025 levels.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, restaurants and bars added 10,800 jobs in September. On an unadjusted basis, their employment fell by about 148,400 jobs from August to September. That gap shows how much the seasonal adjustment matters for reading these figures.
The takeaway is simple: restaurants are still hiring, but at a more normal pace. After August’s surge, a slower September is not a warning sign. It is the expected pattern.
Ranking the Sectors
The foodservice sector ranked behind only two industries in job growth rates:
- Health care
- Construction
That puts the sector in solid company, even if the numbers look smaller than they did a year ago.
The relief here is real. After August’s strong hiring surge, September brought a much slower pace of restaurant job growth. But the industry still fared better than most others, and the seasonal decline was smaller than last year’s.
For now, the restaurant sector is holding its ground. The hiring slowdown is not a sign of trouble; it is a sign of a normal September. The industry weathered the summer’s early losses and recovered strongly in August, and the September numbers simply confirm that the seasonal pullback is playing out as usual.
Source material: “September restaurant job growth slows after August hiring surge,” Nation's Restaurant News.
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