Non-Farm Payroll (NFP) is a monthly report that represents how many people are employed in the US, excluding farm workers and those employed in private households or non-profit organizations. It is an important economic indicator related to employment in the US and is part of the Employment Situation report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The NFP component usually gets the most attention because it measures the actual number of paid employees (full and part-time) in business and government establishments. The data is usually delivered on the first Friday of any given month and can create high volatility in the financial markets.
NFP is important in forex trading because it can affect the value of the US dollar and, in turn, the value of currency pairs that involve the US dollar. When the NFP differs significantly from the forecast, there is usually a reaction in the markets. If the results come in higher than expected, this tends to have a strengthening effect on the USD, whereas if the result comes in lower than expected, the USD will often weaken. Forex investors anticipating a change in the NFP report will turn to other subcomponents and items to gain some sort of direction or insight, including the unemployment rate and manufacturing payroll subcomponent. Trading on news releases like the NFP can be very profitable but volatile, and traders must be wary of data releases like the NFP as they could get stopped-out due to the sudden increase in volatility.
In summary, NFP is a monthly report that represents how many people are employed in the US, excluding farm workers and those employed in private households or non-profit organizations. It is an important economic indicator related to employment in the US and can create high volatility in the financial markets. NFP is important in forex trading because it can affect the value of the US dollar and, in turn, the value of currency pairs that involve the US dollar.