BLS set to release July jobs report Friday as workers and markets await new labor data

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release the July 2026 Employment Situation on Friday, Aug. 7, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, giving workers, employers and policymakers the next official nationwide snapshot of hiring, unemployment and pay.

The report will provide the national employment and unemployment data for July, including payroll figures and wage indicators. The July results were not yet available as of Aug. 6, so no conclusion about whether the labor market strengthened or weakened can be drawn from the release schedule alone.

What the report will show

The Employment Situation is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ scheduled release for the central labor-market measures that shape public and economic discussions about jobs. Friday’s publication is expected to report national payrolls, the unemployment rate and wage indicators for July.

That makes the release relevant beyond the federal statistical system. Workers and employers will receive a new reading on labor conditions, while the data will also inform expectations about monetary policy. The report is the next authoritative nationwide update after June’s mixed labor-market conditions, according to the approved reporting record.

The timing is also significant because the jobs report follows another scheduled BLS publication. The agency scheduled its second-quarter productivity and costs release for Aug. 6, one day before the July Employment Situation. The two releases will provide separate pieces of information about labor conditions and economic performance, but the July payroll and unemployment figures will not be known until the Employment Situation is published.

June pay data provide the available benchmark

The latest wage figures identified in the source packet are for June, not July. BLS reported that real average hourly earnings increased 0.8% in June on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Nominal average hourly earnings rose 0.3% in June, while the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, or CPI-U, fell 0.4%. Those figures describe June conditions and should not be treated as an advance indication of the July wage result.

The distinction matters for readers comparing pay with prices. The June real-earnings figure is an inflation-adjusted measure reported by BLS, while the nominal earnings and CPI-U figures are the separate June changes cited by the agency. The July report will establish the next month’s employment and wage picture once it is released.

More data are scheduled for Aug. 12

BLS’s release calendar also schedules two July updates for Wednesday, Aug. 12: the real-earnings report and the Consumer Price Index report. Those publications will add the July information needed to assess inflation-adjusted pay and consumer prices after Friday’s employment release.

The Aug. 12 schedule means the national labor-market picture will arrive in stages. Friday’s report is scheduled to cover July payrolls, unemployment and wage indicators. The later releases are scheduled to provide July real-earnings and CPI data.

All of those dates are scheduled dates, not completed releases. BLS could revise its calendar, and the July results remain unavailable as of Aug. 6. Until the agency publishes the data, the June earnings figures remain the latest wage measures supported by the source packet.

For now, the immediate development is the pending federal data release. The Employment Situation is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Eastern on Aug. 7, with the July real-earnings and CPI reports scheduled to follow on Aug. 12.