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Payroll employment is the monthly estimate of jobs on nonfarm employer payrolls produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics through the Current Employment Statistics survey, or CES. It is one of the most closely watched measures of U.S. labor-market momentum.
What the payroll survey measures
BLS says CES surveys about 119,000 businesses and government agencies representing roughly 622,000 individual worksites. The survey produces monthly estimates of employment, hours, and earnings for the nation, states, and metropolitan areas.
The headline payroll figure counts jobs, not unique people. A person holding two payroll jobs can be counted in both jobs.
What payroll employment includes
CES covers employees on nonfarm payrolls in private industries and government. It provides detailed industry data, which makes it useful for seeing whether job growth is concentrated in sectors such as health care, construction, manufacturing, leisure and hospitality, or government.
What it does not measure the same way
The payroll survey does not provide the unemployment rate. That comes from the household survey, the Current Population Survey. The surveys have different populations and definitions. The household survey includes agricultural workers and the self-employed, while CES is designed around nonfarm payroll jobs.
Why payrolls and unemployment can move differently
Because the surveys measure different things, payroll employment can rise while unemployment also rises. Population changes, labor-force participation, self-employment, multiple jobholding, and sampling variation can all contribute to different monthly movements.
Why the first estimate is revised
Monthly payroll estimates are based on a sample and are revised as more employer responses arrive. BLS also performs an annual benchmark process using unemployment-insurance tax records. Revisions are part of the statistical process, not evidence that the original release was fabricated or unreliable.
Seasonal adjustment matters
Hiring changes predictably around holidays, school calendars, weather, and other recurring events. Seasonal adjustment attempts to remove those recurring patterns so analysts can better compare one month with another.
How to read a payroll report
- Check the total monthly change.
- Look at prior-month revisions.
- Review which industries added or lost jobs.
- Compare average hourly earnings and hours worked.
- Read payrolls alongside unemployment and participation from the household survey.
Do not turn one month into a trend
Monthly estimates can be noisy. A better labor-market reading considers several months, revisions, unemployment, participation, wage growth, and job openings.
Continue learning
Read Understanding the U.S. Job Market, visit the Jobs & Wages hub, and use the Economic Data Center.
Sources & methodology
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Sources, dates, and methodology matter.
EconomicHQ prioritizes primary sources for consequential financial and economic claims and identifies reporting periods for changing information. This article is educational and does not provide individualized financial, investment, tax, legal, or credit advice.