vs Last Month
−23K
Modest cooling from April's +175K print.
The Headline U.S. Jobs Number
Today's Nonfarm Payrolls
+152
K
-23K
vs. last month (+0K)
Past 12 months
+145K to +235K
vs Last Year-68K
5-Yr Avg+235K
"Steady state"~100K
The economy added +152K jobs last month, below consensus of +175K. Pace has cooled meaningfully from the 250K average of 2022–24 — consistent with the unemployment rate's gradual drift from 3.7% to 4.1% over the same window.
Historical trend
Monthly net change in nonfarm employment.
Source: FRED · PAYEMS · BLS Employment Situation report
The long view: every cycle is visible
2008 financial crisis · 2020 COVID shock · the gradual normalization since.
Peak +4.89M · June 2020
Trough −20.5M · April 2020
Today +152K · May 2, 2026
How today stacks up
vs Last Year
−68K
Down from +220K a year ago — clear slowdown.
5-Year Average
+235K
Includes post-COVID recovery surge.
"Steady state"
~100K
Pace needed to absorb new entrants. Today is above that.
Use this number
Tools for navigating a softer job market.
About Nonfarm Payrolls
Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) is the headline U.S. jobs number — the monthly net change in employed workers on private + government payrolls, excluding farm workers, household employees, and a few small categories. The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases it on the first Friday of each month at 8:30 AM ET as part of the Employment Situation report. Today's +152,000 means the economy added 152K net jobs in the prior month.
Why this number moves markets
NFP is the single most-watched data point in U.S. economics. It moves the bond market, equity market, and dollar within seconds of release. A surprise of ±50K vs. consensus can shift Fed-rate expectations and push the 10-year yield 5–10 basis points in either direction. Strong NFP signals economic momentum; weak NFP signals slack and increases the odds of Fed easing. The Fed's dual mandate explicitly covers maximum employment, so this number is part of monetary policy directly.
Reading today's number
Pace of job creation has cooled to ~150K monthly in 2026 from the 250K average of 2022–24. That cooling is consistent with the unemployment rate creeping from 3.7% to 4.1% over the same period — labor demand softening but not collapsing. Anything sustainably below 100K would warrant Fed-cut conversations; anything above 250K would warrant inflation concerns. Today's 152K sits in the "neither hot nor cold" zone the Fed prefers.
Related trackers
Other live numbers that move with — or against — this one.
Frequently asked
What this number means, and what it doesn't.
Farm employment is highly seasonal and historically harder to measure consistently than non-farm jobs. The BLS publishes separate agricultural employment data through the Current Population Survey. Excluding farms gives NFP a cleaner read on the broader, more stable employment trends. Household workers, military, and unincorporated self-employed are also excluded.
NFP undergoes two scheduled revisions: one with the next monthly release (covers the prior month) and one with the following release (covers two months back). Annual benchmark revisions in February can adjust the whole prior year. Revisions average about ±50K per month — large enough to flip narrative. The "preliminary" print drives all the market reaction; later revisions matter for the historical record.
ADP (Automatic Data Processing) is a private firm that publishes its own jobs estimate two days before NFP. ADP only counts private-sector jobs and uses its own payroll-processing data. NFP includes government jobs and uses a BLS survey of employers. The two often disagree by 50–150K. Markets treat NFP as the authoritative number.
Population growth and labor-force-participation trends imply the U.S. needs roughly 80–120K new jobs per month just to keep the unemployment rate steady. So anything above that pace tends to lower unemployment; below it tends to raise unemployment. The "sweet spot" for the Fed has historically been the 150–250K range — strong enough to feel like growth, soft enough to not stoke wage inflation.
Yes — the COVID-19 lockdowns cost the U.S. economy a net 20.5 million jobs in April 2020, the worst single-month reading in the series' history dating to 1939. The economy gained back 7.4M in May and June combined as restrictions eased. Roughly 22 million jobs were lost in March + April; it took until June 2022 for total employment to fully recover.
Methodology
Source
Pulled from FRED · PAYEMS and cached on the EvvyTools server.
Update schedule
Refreshed automatically by our cron whenever the upstream source publishes a new value. Historical values are not revised after publication.
How we compute
Display value is the raw published number, unrounded. Comparison stats use the closest available reference date. We never edit the underlying data.