The US economy lost 32,000 private sector jobs in September

Question

Private payrolls plunged in September, complicating the picture for the US economy as policymakers and investors struggle to assess the state of the labor market amid a government shutdown.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is unlikely to release the monthly jobs report this Friday due to the closure. That means many flying blind without critical economic data are having to key into any information they can get, including Wednesday’s private sector jobs data from payroll company ADP.

Answer 1

Claim:
“The US economy lost 32,000 private sector jobs in September. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is unlikely to release its monthly jobs report because of the shutdown, so people are relying on ADP’s data instead.”

Verdict:
Mostly true.

Why:

• Job losses: ADP, a major payroll company, reported that private employers cut 32,000 jobs in September 2025 (ADP report). Major outlets like Reuters and CBS News confirmed the same number (Reuters, CBS).

• BLS shutdown: Because of the government shutdown, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said it would not release its monthly jobs report (BLS notice; Fox Business).

• Reliance on ADP: With no official report, investors and policymakers turned to ADP for clues. Barron’s even said “with no jobs report, ADP gains unusual importance” (Barron’s).

Caveats:

• ADP tracks only private sector jobs and often differs from the official BLS report when it eventually comes out.

• The September figure included a rebenchmarking adjustment that made the decline look larger.

• One month of losses doesn’t automatically mean a long-term trend.

Conclusion:
The claim is accurate overall, ADP did show a 32,000 private-sector job loss, the BLS did pause its jobs release, and people really did lean on ADP as a stand-in. The only catch is that ADP isn’t the same as the official government jobs report.

Comments

This is a wonderfully laid out answer. Although I agree with your findings, I am left wondering about the reliability of some sources. After looking into the bias and credibility reports of CBS News, Fox Business, Barron's, and Reuter's, I found that 3/4 of the sources (Fox Business being the right leaning outlier) have a left or center bias. Could this influence the reliability of the reporting, or are these potential biases negated by the variability in sources?
The argument is well laid out and I greatly appreciate the variety of sources and analysis provided.

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Great answer, and very well laid out.
Although yes, some of the sources are more biased than others, I believe finding a second source to be more right leaning like Fox Business could help strengthen your argument.
But the outline is great and very clear to read, making it easy to understand your argument.

Answer 2

1. According to the CNN article, I found that the number 32,000 was projected from the employment company ADP. I checked their most recent employment report, which indeed matches the article's claim of 32,000. 
2. https://adpemploymentreport.com/ - This ADP employment report confirms the monthly jobs decrease. 
4. I don't see a reason why CNN would be biased

Comments

While it is a good source, CNN does have a slightly left-leaning bias. Regardless, it is a credible source and the information you found is truthful.

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You make a clear point that CNN’s claim checks out with ADP’s official report, which is a solid verification step most people skip. However, I’d be careful about assuming there’s no bias just because the numbers match. Bias in reporting isn’t always about fabricating data, it can show up in how the story is framed, which details are emphasized, or what context is left out. For example, CNN might focus more on the job *losses* while a right-leaning outlet could highlight how the overall labor market is still growing. Checking how different outlets covered the same ADP report could show if the framing changed the takeaway even when the facts stayed the same.

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CNN is a good source for news, however they have a left leaning bias. This does not seem to have affected the authenticity of the information that you collected, but there is a reason CNN would be biased. Bias doesn't always mean that the facts could be flat out wrong, but differences in how context is given/a story is framed could show potential bias.

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Nice work cross-checking the CNN article with the actual ADP report — that shows solid attention to detail but be careful because CNN is biased leaning left. It's great that you went directly to the source and found that the 32,000 figure matches up.

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I liked how careful you were with this to make sure you found the accurate information, because CNN can definitely be a more left-leaning news source, and one that I personally listen to most of the time, but cross-checking their information with the ADP report was still the best way to get the most accurate information.

Answer 3

I found this information to be accurate. I looked at the original CNN article and I was able to find multiple different sources confirming that the private sector in the US lost 32,000 jobs in September with the government shutdown causing the Bureau of Labor Statistics to not release their monthly jobs report (Fox Business, CNBC). Some of the main sources people are relying on include the ADP report (ADP) that state the private sector lost 32,000 jobs because of the fact that the BLS did not release a monthly jobs report. One piece of evidence that undermines this claim is that the ADP only does a report for the private sector jobs so it can differ from the BLS report. In conclusion, this claim is overall truthful.

Answer 4

I found that CNN does state that the U.S. economy lost 32,000 private sector jobs in the month of September. CNN is known to cover both left and right-sided news, so I don't particularly see a reason for them to take a bias on this claim. In this video by CNBC, it explains how politicians are stating that there is a “drop in private sector hiring”.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR0dHDjF0aw&t=7s 

From the Wall Street Journal, a similar article claims that 32,000 private sector jobs were lost. I learned that this happened because of a slowdown in the job market, which can be misleading, considering the title of the article says     “loss.”https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/u-s-lost-32-000-jobs-in-september-says-payroll-processor-06528340?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=ASWzDAjVG2xzGcMr2ZuJY3WeYf2IM7ztprCDQvALlVeL-vbgD3wO9QpSrFQ2yYxj2mI%3D&gaa_ts=68e6f2c0&gaa_sig=VmHsV5UaPcWUJuAdT0UeOab2dudONGqixz9nDWTP-L6wG-OZ2rUE-Fc88ElmYQ7o2W0PO9SXKvbuZln4YPzTsg%3D%3D

Both these sources cover both things that may be considered right or left-leaning biases, and for them to be stating the same thing makes me believe there is not really a bias. The evidence says that there could have been 32,000 jobs this year, but since there was a slowdown, the jobs were never available, which makes them a “loss” in jobs. 

Answer 5

My findings show that U.S companies did cut 32,000 jobs and that this claim is accurate.

According to adpemploymentreport.com , the ADP concludes that there has been a cut of 32,000 jobs in September 2025.  Although, economists don’t necessarily trust the ADP’s data as it hasn’t always been consistently aligned with the governments data, according to cpapracticeadvisor.com . To add on, a line diagram shows a trend of the loss of jobs.  Other news sources such as, The Wall Street Journal, NBC News, and CNBC, have also reported the loss of jobs; all posted in the last week. These sources, including the CNN news article are reliable sources and mostly unbiased, in regards to adfontes.media.com, "Ad Fontes Media rates NBC News (website) in the Middle category of bias and as Reliable, Analysis/Fact Reporting in terms of reliability.".  

While ADP’s data may not align with the governments conclusion, multiple reliable sources supports that this claim is true.