Nonfarm payroll employment

The number of jobs on employer payrolls outside farming — the standard jobs count.

What it measures

Paid positions at businesses and government agencies, counted from employer records in the pay period that includes the 12th of the month.

How it is measured

The Current Employment Statistics survey: about 120,000 businesses and agencies covering roughly a third of all payroll jobs, benchmarked once a year against the near-complete unemployment-insurance tax records.

Reading it over a presidential term

This is a level that grows with the population, so the average level over a term mostly reports what decade it was. Change from start to end — in percent, or annualized percent — is the comparison that means something.

What it leaves out

It counts jobs, not people: someone holding two jobs is counted twice. It excludes farm workers, the unincorporated self-employed, unpaid family workers, and household employees. Recent months are revised for a year afterwards, and the annual benchmark can move a whole stretch of history.

Chart this series · See it by president · Download the data · The source at FRED