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What is NFP?
The Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) report is the monthly US employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, released the first Friday of each month at 8:30 AM ET. It includes the headline payrolls number (net jobs added or lost), the unemployment rate, average hourly earnings, average weekly hours, and labor-force participation. The headline is noisy month-to-month - the signal is in the 3-month moving average, prior-month revisions, and the wage growth trend.
- Headline NFP - Net jobs added (millions). Noisy.
- Unemployment rate - Survey-based, watch participation alongside.
- AHE - Average hourly earnings - wage growth, Fed-relevant.
- Revisions - Last 2 months often revised, sometimes more than current print.
What's in the NFP report
The release covers two surveys:
Establishment survey:
- Non-farm payrolls (the headline)
- Average hourly earnings (AHE)
- Average weekly hours
- Sectoral breakdown
Household survey:
- Unemployment rate (U-3)
- Labor-force participation rate
- Employment-to-population ratio
- U-6 underemployment rate
How to read it
- Headline payrolls - vs consensus, but noisy
- Revisions to last 2 months - often the bigger story
- 3-month moving average - better trend signal
- AHE YoY and MoM - wage growth, drives Fed reaction
- U-rate vs participation - composition matters
Market reaction
NFP day moves: 2Y first, USD second, equities third. Wage growth is often more market-moving than the headline.