Labor
Nonfarm Payrolls (Employment Situation)
The monthly change in US payroll employment, released with the unemployment rate and wage growth in the Employment Situation report.
Next NFP release
8:30 a.m. ETin 27 days
Data for October 2026
Published in the same BLS Employment Situation release as Unemployment Rate.
After that
Source: BLS Employment Situation schedule ↗ · checked Oct 10, 2026. Agencies can reschedule; confirm before trading.
- Released by
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Release time
- 8:30 a.m. ET
- Typical timing
- Usually the first Friday of the month, covering the prior month Official schedule ↗
What NFP measures
Nonfarm payrolls is the estimated monthly change in the number of paid workers in the US, excluding farm workers, private household employees and a few other groups. It comes from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey of businesses and government agencies.
The same Employment Situation release includes the unemployment rate (from a separate household survey), average hourly earnings, average weekly hours and revisions to the previous two months.
Why traders watch it
Employment is half of the Fed's dual mandate. The jobs report is one of the broadest, timeliest reads on the US economy and can reshape expectations for growth and policy in a single morning.
Revisions can be large. Traders compare the headline with consensus but also look at prior-month revisions, the unemployment rate and wage growth — and a mixed report can produce volatile, two-way price action.
What to look at in the release
| Headline payroll change | Thousands of jobs added or lost |
| Revisions | Prior two months; annual benchmark revision each year |
| Unemployment rate | From the household survey |
| Average hourly earnings | Wage growth, m/m and y/y |
| Private payrolls | Excludes government hiring |
How markets tend to interpret it
Relative to consensus expectations — not the absolute level.
Stronger / hotter than expected
Stronger-than-expected hiring can push up yields and the dollar if it reduces expected rate cuts; equities may rise on growth optimism or fall on rate concerns.
Weaker / cooler than expected
Weaker-than-expected hiring can pull yields lower and raise expectations of easier policy, while also raising growth concerns.
Context matters. Whether 'good news is good news' depends on the regime. When inflation is the main concern, strong jobs can be read negatively for rate-sensitive assets; when growth is the concern, the opposite can apply.
Historical data
thousands · last 35 observations
Show recent data
| Date | Value (thousands) |
|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | 29 |
| Aug 1, 2026 | 133 |
| Jul 1, 2026 | -10 |
| Jun 1, 2026 | 31 |
| May 1, 2026 | 63 |
| Apr 1, 2026 | 148 |
| Mar 1, 2026 | 214 |
| Feb 1, 2026 | -156 |
| Jan 1, 2026 | 160 |
| Dec 1, 2025 | -17 |
| Nov 1, 2025 | 41 |
| Oct 1, 2025 | -140 |
Markets that watch NFP
Each note explains the channel for that market; reactions are tendencies, not rules.
| Market | Why it can matter |
|---|---|
| US 2Y | Payrolls, wages and the unemployment rate together reshape the expected Fed path, so the 2-year can reprice sharply at 8:30 a.m. ET on jobs day — especially when revisions or wage growth surprise along with the headline. |
| US 10Y | Strong jobs data can lift the 10-year through both higher expected policy rates and a better growth outlook; weak data can pull it lower as traders price slower growth and earlier cuts. |
| DXY | Payroll surprises frequently produce some of the largest scheduled dollar moves, because they change both the US growth outlook and the rate gap versus Europe and Japan. |
| S&P 500 | Equities weigh what a jobs report says about growth and earnings against what it implies for Fed policy. Which side dominates depends on whether the market is more worried about inflation or about a slowdown at the time. |
| Nasdaq 100 | The Nasdaq-100 usually trades the jobs report through its effect on real yields: a report that pushes yields sharply in either direction can move rate-sensitive growth stocks more than the broader market. |
| Gold | Gold usually reacts to payrolls through the yield and dollar moves the report triggers rather than the jobs number itself; a weak report that lowers expected rates has often supported it. |
| EUR/USD | US payroll surprises can change expectations for Federal Reserve policy and move Treasury yields and the dollar, making NFP one of the most closely watched US releases for EUR/USD. |
| USD/JPY | USD/JPY tends to track US yields closely on jobs day. Very large moves can also draw attention to possible Japanese currency intervention, which adds two-way risk. |
Also covered on: VIX, Dow, Russell 2000, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, USD/CAD
NFP FAQ
When is the jobs report released?
The Employment Situation report is usually released at 8:30 a.m. ET on the first Friday of the month. When the timing of the survey week requires it, the release can fall on a different Friday; the BLS publishes the full schedule in advance.
Why are nonfarm payrolls revised?
The initial estimate is based on incomplete survey responses. As more responses arrive, the BLS revises the prior two months, and an annual benchmark revision aligns the series with more comprehensive unemployment-insurance records.
How does NFP affect forex?
Payrolls change expectations for Fed policy and US growth, so the dollar often moves sharply at the release. The direction depends on the surprise versus forecasts, the details, and whether markets are more focused on inflation or growth.