By Marco BösingWhat Are Non-Farm Payrolls?
Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) is the headline figure of the monthly US employment report, released on the first Friday of each month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report measures the change in the number of employed persons outside the agricultural sector and provides insight into the health of the US labor market.
Beyond the headline jobs number, the NFP report also includes the unemployment rate and average hourly earnings. This data directly influences expectations for Federal Reserve monetary policy and regularly creates significant volatility across equity, bond, and currency markets.
For traders, the NFP release is one of the most important dates on the economic calendar, as deviations from consensus estimates often trigger sharp and rapid price movements.