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NAIRU (Natural Rate of Unemployment) (USD)

Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment — the estimated unemployment rate consistent with stable inflation, published by the Congressional Budget Office.

Latest reading: 4.64 % · Last updated: · Source: FRED (BEA/BLS/Fed)

Category: Labor Market

API Endpoint

/api/v1/announcements/usd/nairu

Use the production OpenAPI schema for the authoritative REST route metadata.

https://fxmacrodata.com/api/openapi.json

Browse the full endpoint reference

Compare NAIRU (Natural Rate of Unemployment) across all supported currencies →

About NAIRU (Natural Rate of Unemployment) (USD)

NAIRU—the Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment—is an estimated structural unemployment rate for United States below which inflation tends to accelerate. It is an unobservable theoretical benchmark used in policy models.

Why FX traders watch it

When United States's actual unemployment rate falls below NAIRU, the Federal Reserve typically interprets this as inflationary and may tighten policy. Understanding NAIRU helps contextualize whether rate moves are warranted.

How to interpret the data

NAIRU itself is revised periodically. Unemployment well below NAIRU is a hawkish signal and usd-supportive; unemployment significantly above NAIRU suggests slack that restrains wage growth and lowers the bar for rate cuts.

Historical NAIRU (Natural Rate of Unemployment) (USD)

Source: FRED (BEA/BLS/Fed)  ·  Quarterly  ·  %

Data provided by FXMacroData via the /api/v1/announcements/usd/nairu endpoint. For access, see pricing.

Data Source

Primary Source

FRED (BEA/BLS/Fed)

Official Series ID

NROU

Data Format and Properties

Data Frequency

Quarterly

Unit of Measure

%

JSON Response Structure

The endpoint returns a chronological list of observations in JSON format. 

{
    "currency": "USD",
    "indicator": "nairu",
    "has_official_forecast": false,
    "start_date": "2023-01-01",
    "end_date": "2023-12-31",
    "data": [
        {
            "date": "2024-07-01",
            "val": 4.2,
            "announcement_datetime": 1722456000
        }
    ]
}

Request Parameters & Usage

Parameter Required Format Description
start_date NO YYYY-MM-DD Optional lower bound for the requested history.
end_date NO YYYY-MM-DD Optional upper bound. Defaults to the current date.
api_key CONDITIONAL string Required for non-USD announcement requests. USD announcement requests are public without an API key.

Example Usage

To retrieve NAIRU (Natural Rate of Unemployment) data for USD from 2023: 

GET https://fxmacrodata.com/api/v1/announcements/usd/nairu?start_date=2023-01-01&end_date=2023-12-31

Frequently Asked Questions

How often is United States NAIRU (Natural Rate of Unemployment) updated?
NAIRU (Natural Rate of Unemployment) for United States is released on a quarterly schedule by Federal Reserve (or the relevant national statistics agency). FXMacroData ingests each new value within seconds of the official publication and exposes the exact announcement timestamp on every record.
What unit is NAIRU (Natural Rate of Unemployment) reported in?
The series is published in %. The exact unit is also returned on every API response under the indicator metadata.
Where does FXMacroData source United States NAIRU (Natural Rate of Unemployment) data?
Data is fetched directly from Federal Reserve or the official national statistics publication for United States. The source URL is preserved on every announcement record so downstream consumers can trace the value back to its primary release.
How do I query NAIRU (Natural Rate of Unemployment) for United States via the API?
Issue a GET request to /api/v1/announcements/usd/nairu?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY. The response contains a chronological list of observations with values, release dates, and announcement timestamps. USD announcement data is public; other currencies require a Professional API key.