‘Wow, wow, wow!’: CNBC host clearly shocked after US economy adds 162,000 jobs — 3X expectations. Bet on America now

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CNBC's Rick Santelli has analyzed countless economic releases during his decades at the network. But the veteran market commentator could barely contain his surprise when the latest U.S. jobs numbers crossed the screen.

"Hold on to your seats, folks," Santelli said (1) during CNBC's live coverage on the morning of Sept. 4. "Nonfarm payrolls for the month of August: up 162,000. That's basically three times what expectations are."

The official numbers confirmed the magnitude of the surprise. The U.S. economy added 162,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in August, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2) — more than three times the 53,000 jobs economists had expected (3).

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And that wasn't the only positive surprise.

The government revised June's gain upward from 20,000 to 31,000 jobs, while July's initially reported loss of 23,000 was transformed into a gain of 21,000. Together, the revisions made employment growth in those two months stronger than previously reported by 55,000 jobs.

"We're cooking in grease on this report," Santelli declared. "162,000 would be the best level going back to March of this year, which was the high-water mark at 214,000."

Santelli was especially encouraged by manufacturing, which added 16,000 jobs in August — its strongest showing since late 2023. Manufacturing employment has now increased by 58,000 since December 2025.

"If you look at manufacturing jobs, the renaissance continues," he said.

The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, even as the labor force participation rate edged up to 61.6%. Ordinarily, an influx of people entering or reentering the workforce can push the unemployment rate higher because more Americans are actively looking for jobs.

"I thought that moving higher would make the unemployment rate move up, but it did not," Santelli said of the participation rate. "That's a whopping two-tenths better than our last look."

The average workweek in the private sector ticked up from 34.3 to 34.4 hours, another development Santelli called "solid."