US nonfarm payrolls, 1939 to 2026
US nonfarm payrolls stood at 158,984 in 2026, up 0.0% on the previous period.
The latest reading is 159 million jobs, for June 2026, against 158.9 million jobs in May 2026. The series is monthly (FRED series PAYEMS) and runs from January 1939.
How it is measured
Total nonfarm employment: the number of jobs on employer payrolls, from the BLS survey of about 120,000 businesses and agencies. This is the level behind the monthly jobs report; the headline number the news quotes is the month-to-month change in this line. The axis is in thousands. The data reaches us through FRED, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis's data service, and originates with the Bureau of Labor Statistics' establishment survey.
What the curve shows
The economy carried 159 million jobs in June 2026, against 29.9 million at the start of the window. Recessions appear as cliffs, recoveries as long climbs; the 2020 drop and rebound dwarf everything else in the modern record.
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