Nonfarm payrolls, monthly change
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · monthly · 1,052 observations
779th highest of 1,052 months since Feb 1939 (tied with 2 months; BLS CES0000000001, computed from our CSV).
−104k vs prior month−47k vs a year earlier
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Month-over-month change computed from PAYEMS levels
About this series
What it measures
The month-to-month change in the number of jobs on nonfarm payrolls, from BLS's monthly survey of businesses and government agencies. The level was 159,044,000 in September 2026.
Why it matters
It is the broadest monthly count of U.S. jobs and is usually the first hard read on the labor market each month.
Common misreads
The first estimate is revised twice in the following two months and again in the annual benchmark, sometimes by more than the headline change. It counts jobs, not people, so someone with two jobs is counted twice. Annual benchmark revisions rewrite the whole history; our CSV is the BLS vintage pulled Oct 11 2026.