Inflation and employment indicators
Published CPI, unemployment and payroll observations, with reporting periods and adjustment bases.
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Three measures, different questions
CPI-U describes changes in prices paid by urban consumers. The index level uses 1982–84=100; the inflation chart instead shows the percentage change from the same month a year earlier, calculated from the unadjusted index. Slower inflation means prices are rising more slowly, not necessarily falling.
The unemployment rate is the unemployed share of the civilian labor force, rather than the share of the entire population without work. Nonfarm payroll employment comes from a separate employer survey and measures jobs. Someone with more than one payroll job can be counted more than once.
The unemployment and payroll figures here are seasonally adjusted. Payroll changes compare adjacent months; underlying employment levels are published in thousands, while the latest card expresses the change in jobs. Payroll estimates are revised as additional reports arrive and through annual benchmarking. Each series retains its own reporting month.