What to Look Out for in Economic Data This Week (May 4-8)

Incoming jobs data is the major theme of this week's economic calendar, starting with hiring and firing numbers for March on Tuesday, continuing with initial jobless claims on Wednesday and ending with the April jobs report on Friday.

In the immediate aftermath of the April Fed meeting and Jerome Powell's final press conference as Fed chair, we'll hear from New York Fed President John Williams on Monday and Thursday and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee on Wednesday.

Last week, the Senate Banking Committee voted 13-11 in advancing Kevin Warsh's nomination to succeed Powell as Fed chair. The full Senate is now set to ratify President Donald Trump's choice to lead the central bank, with a vote likely to happen the week of May 11.

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Economic reports we're watching

Tuesday, May 5: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS): It's a volatile dataset from month to month, but economists do see an uptick in openings in their rearview mirrors for March.

Friday, May 8: Nonfarm payrolls report: The employment situation in March was much better than it was in February, which was much worse than it was in January. Economists see another swing coming.

Read on to see the entire weekly economic calendar of the most important upcoming economic reports scheduled to be released in the next several days. At times, we provide expanded previews and recaps for select reports.

Please check back often. This economic calendar is updated regularly. Bolded reports are those considered more noteworthy. All reporting times are in Eastern Time.

Monday (5/4)

Tuesday (5/5)

JOLTS Tuesday

Bad weather and labor strikes during February led to a decline in job openings, "particularly within the healthcare, construction, and leisure and hospitality sectors," according to American Staffing Association Chief Economist Noah Yosif.

And yet the March jobs report showed a surge in hiring, despite lingering policy uncertainty and rising geopolitical tension.

Markets will pay attention to whether the March JOLTS data reveal a continuing decline in openings, hirings and quits ahead of the report's release before the opening bell on Tuesday.

Of course, the question of employers' caution about expanding their headcounts will have even more color come Jobs Friday.

Wednesday (5/6)

Thursday (5/7)

Friday (5/8)

Jobs Friday

"We estimate that nonfarm payroll employment was flat in April," a team of Barclays economists led by Marc Giannoni writes, "following the sharp swings in January (+160k), February (-133k) and March (+178k)."

The BLS will release the April nonfarm payrolls report before the opening bell on Friday. "Uncertainty about our official forecast remains elevated," the economists note, "with various indicators and approaches sending unusually varied signals."

The Barclays economists see the unemployment rate at 4.3% in April, following a decline in March from 4.441% to 4.256%.

"Although outlook uncertainty has intensified in recent weeks," they conclude, "we retain our baseline that the unemployment rate will gradually track downward over the course of 2026, with slow job gains still somewhat exceeding the modest breakeven pace."

Reporting schedules are provided Forex Factory and MarketWatch.

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