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Payrolls and jobless claims

Payrolls: the monthly change in the number of US jobs, the headline of the jobs report. Jobless claims: weekly new applications for unemployment benefit.

Nonfarm payrolls come from a survey of employers and are revised over the following months. Initial jobless claims are published every Thursday and are the most timely labour-market data in the US.

Why it matters

The jobs report is the market-moving release of the month. A sustained rise in jobless claims is one of the earliest signs of a weakening labour market.

See the data: US payrolls, US jobless claims.

General information, not advice.