September’s jobs report showed average hourly earnings rising just 0.1% from the previous month and 3% from a year earlier, while prices were increasing at a 3.4% annual rate as of August. Inflation has exceeded wage growth since the spring, eroding workers’ purchasing power and forcing difficult spending choices, Heather Long, chief economist for Navy Federal Credit Union, said on X. The annual wage increase was the slowest since May 2021, while the monthly gain was the weakest since December 2025. The report also showed only 29,000 jobs added, an increase in unemployment and downward revisions totaling 60,000 jobs for previous months. Economists described the labor market as maintaining a low-hire, low-fire pattern rather than entering an alarm phase. Guy Berger, senior adviser on labor markets at Access/Macro, said he remained generally positive about labor-market developments in 2026, while identifying weaker wage growth as the major exception.