Nonfarm payroll employment is the broadest monthly measure of U.S. job creation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys approximately 149,000 businesses and government agencies representing 651,000 individual worksites each month to count workers on payrolls during the reference period containing the 12th of the month. The figure excludes farm workers, self-employed individuals, private household employees, and unpaid family workers. Because nonfarm payrolls capture such a wide cross-section of the economy, the monthly jobs report released the first Friday of each month is one of the most closely watched economic indicators in the world. Economists, the Federal Reserve, and financial markets all use it to gauge whether the economy is expanding or contracting, and whether monetary policy needs to tighten or loosen.