US Legal Sector: Hiring Increases Despite Broader Economic Slowdown

October 5, 2026, 10:39 am CDT Hiring in the legal sector outpaced hiring across the broader U.S. economy in September. (Photo by Andriy Onufriyenko/ Getty Images ) Hiring in the legal sector outpaced hiring across the broader U.S. economy in September, according to seasonally adjusted data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released Friday. Last month, 1,249,000 people worked in lawyer, paralegal and other law-related professional roles, up 2,000 jobs from August, according to Reuters , which reported on the revised government statistics . With this latest count, hiring in the legal sector has increased for the sixth straight month and is also 7.6% higher than five years earlier. Overall, job growth across all sectors slowed more than expected, Reuters reports. U.S. employers added 29,000 jobs in September, despite economists predictions that jobs would increase by 90,000.