Nonfarm Payrolls
All Employees, Total Nonfarm
The number, plainly.
The number of jobs on U.S. payrolls outside farming, the headline figure in the monthly jobs report.
Higher, lower, and what each means.
Growing means employers are still adding; flat or shrinking means they have stopped. The month-over-month change is the number to watch.
A reading is not a verdict. The Scan phase of Woodring’s Loop collects the signal; the Story phase asks what futures it is consistent with, and only the Stake phase turns that into a decision. This page does the first part.
The line in your 2027 plan.
Tests: the top-line demand assumption. Payroll growth is the income that funds the spending in the revenue plan.
Write the assumption down, name the reading that would break it, and put a date on when it has to be argued again. That is the 18-Month Sunset applied to one line of a budget. The Last Annual Planshows what this season’s moves have already done to the common ones.
The last 36 readings.
Most recent first. Every value is as published by FRED at the time of the last refresh; FRED revises some series after the fact.
| Date | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | 159.29M | +0.1% |
| Sep 1, 2026 | 159.13M | Unchanged |
| Aug 1, 2026 | 159.07M | +0.1% |
| Jul 1, 2026 | 158.88M | Unchanged |
| Jun 1, 2026 | 158.89M | Unchanged |
| May 1, 2026 | 158.86M | Unchanged |
| Apr 1, 2026 | 158.80M | +0.1% |
| Mar 1, 2026 | 158.65M | +0.1% |
| Feb 1, 2026 | 158.44M | −0.1% |
| Jan 1, 2026 | 158.59M | +0.1% |
| Dec 1, 2025 | 158.43M | Unchanged |
| Nov 1, 2025 | 158.45M | Unchanged |
| Oct 1, 2025 | 158.41M | −0.1% |
| Sep 1, 2025 | 158.55M | Unchanged |
| Aug 1, 2025 | 158.47M | Unchanged |
| Jul 1, 2025 | 158.54M | Unchanged |
| Jun 1, 2025 | 158.48M | Unchanged |
| May 1, 2025 | 158.50M | Unchanged |
| Apr 1, 2025 | 158.49M | +0.1% |
| Mar 1, 2025 | 158.38M | Unchanged |
| Feb 1, 2025 | 158.31M | Unchanged |
| Jan 1, 2025 | 158.27M | Unchanged |
| Dec 1, 2024 | 158.32M | +0.1% |
| Nov 1, 2024 | 158.08M | +0.1% |
| Oct 1, 2024 | 157.95M | Unchanged |
| Sep 1, 2024 | 157.91M | +0.1% |
| Aug 1, 2024 | 157.76M | Unchanged |
| Jul 1, 2024 | 157.75M | Unchanged |
| Jun 1, 2024 | 157.70M | +0.1% |
| May 1, 2024 | 157.61M | Unchanged |
| Apr 1, 2024 | 157.53M | Unchanged |
| Mar 1, 2024 | 157.47M | +0.1% |
| Feb 1, 2024 | 157.24M | +0.1% |
| Jan 1, 2024 | 157.03M | +0.1% |
| Dec 1, 2023 | 156.86M | +0.1% |
| Nov 1, 2023 | 156.70M | — |
When Nonfarm Payrolls moves, know what it tests.
The monthly Signal Layer covers every series in the library: what moved, which planning assumptions it tests, and what a continuous-planning team does about it. One email a month. Unsubscribe in one click.
Where the number comes from.
All Employees, Total Nonfarm (PAYEMS), retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PAYEMS. Refreshed daily; 120 readings on file from Nov 1, 2016 to Oct 1, 2026.
Predictive Planning Institute, Signal Library: Nonfarm Payrolls (PAYEMS). predictiveplanning.com/signals/PAYEMS. Data via FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Value 159.29M as of Oct 1, 2026.