The unemployment rate measures the number of unemployed as a percentage of the nation's work force. Non-farm payroll employment tallies the number of paid employees working part-time and or full-time in the nation's business and government sectors. There are several components that are also included in this report one is the average hourly workweek.

That figure reflects the number of hours worked in the non-farm sector. Another component is the average hourly earnings. It shows what the hourly rate employees are receiving. There are two versions of this report one is a weekly report that is released every Thursday morning and the other is the more influential report which is the monthly figure that is usually released on the First Friday of every month.