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Nonfarm Payrolls

Total jobs on US payrolls outside farming.

159.0M
Thousands of persons · latest, May 2026
1948-49 Recession1953-54 Recession1957-58 Recession1960-61 Recession1969-70 Recession1973-75 Recession1980 Recession1981-82 Recession1990-91 Recession2001 RecessionGlobal Financial CrisisCOVID-19 Recession40M60M80M100M120M140M19401960198020002020

Source: FRED · PAYEMS · series · Jan 1939 to May 2026 · latest-revised

Reading it. Counts jobs, not people. The first print is revised for two more months.

About the bands. Shaded spans are NBER-dated US recessions, drawn as factual overlays. They mark when the economy contracted, not why. Lining an event or policy up with a move on this chart is not evidence that it caused the move.