Latest Jobs Report: Payrolls, Unemployment and What They Mean

— Latest reading

— About this report

The Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is usually released on the first Friday of the month. Payrolls come from a survey of employers and the unemployment rate from a separate survey of households, so the two occasionally point in different directions.

For stocks the reaction is often two-sided. A very strong report can raise expectations that rates stay high — the "good news is bad news" pattern — while a very weak one raises recession worries. Markets have tended to prefer readings that are neither too hot nor too cold.

Payroll figures are revised in each of the next two monthly reports, sometimes substantially, so the most recent month is the least certain number in the table below.

— What a move tends to mean

These rules of thumb describe how markets have tended to react when a reading comes in above or below economists’ forecasts. Market North does not publish forecasts — the comparison on this page is with the previous reading, which is not the same thing.

— Beyond stocks

For gold, a strong report has tended to lift Treasury yields and the dollar — usually a headwind — while a weak one has tended to do the opposite.

RelatedWhy Rising Treasury Yields Weigh on GoldDoes a Strong Dollar Push Gold Down?

— Recent readings

“Not published” means the agency did not release a figure for that period — for example, October 2025 data that could not be collected during the government shutdown.