Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP)

NFP is released on the first Friday of each month by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and is widely considered the single most market-moving scheduled data release in the world — hence the informal name "Jobs Friday." The figure comes from a survey of businesses and government agencies (the "establishment survey"), not households, which is why it can diverge from the unemployment rate, which uses a separate household survey.

The "nonfarm" exclusion exists because agricultural employment is highly seasonal and volatile, which would distort the underlying trend. The number reported is the net change in payrolls — jobs added minus jobs lost — for the prior month. Suppose an economy adds 250,000 gross jobs but loses 50,000; the reported NFP figure would be +200,000. That net framing is important: a "strong" number means net growth exceeded expectations, not that no jobs were lost.

Revisions are a common source of confusion. The initial NFP release is based on incomplete survey returns and is often revised — sometimes substantially — in the two following months. Traders typically treat the first print as directional and watch subsequent revisions for confirmation. NFP feeds directly into monetary policy decisions because central banks use labor market strength as one gauge of whether the economy needs stimulus or restraint. You can follow scheduled release dates on the economic calendar.