The U.S. Department of Labor’s employment report is the first piece of major economic data released each month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases the employment or jobs report, on the first Friday of every month.  It estimates the number of people employed and unemployed in the economy and the number of hours they worked (plus myriad related figures). 

The release of the employment data usually is followed by frenzied trading that can last from a few minutes to an entire day, depending on what the data shows and what the market was expecting. 

The report is so important that it can set the trend for overall trading in the entire arena of the financial markets for several weeks after its release.

Jeff Powell and Jeremy Witbeck look at why there is so much emphasis put on Employment Report and how it  influences Wall Street and the Economy.