On the heels of positive economic news such as more employment gains and fewer unemployment claims, a monthly jobs report to be released Friday could be the indicator that will determine whether the Federal Reserve will impose a “jumbo-sized” interest rate increase, as Bloomberg called it, according to economy-watchers.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)'s Employment Situation Summary for August, due out at 8:30 a.m. EDT, will suggest whether the economy remains resilient in the face of inflation and a possible recession.

Experts are forecasting a gain of 298,000 non-farm jobs in August and an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent, the lowest in five decades and the same rate as July’s. The economy gained 528,000 non-farm jobs in July.

If those forecasts prove correct, they “could be enough to push the Fed to raise borrowing costs by 75 basis points, extending the steepest interest-rate hikes in a generation to curb an inflation surge,” according to Bloomberg. But if the BLS report indicates a lower rate of employment growth, along with a slowdown in the average hourly earnings figures, then the Fed may increase the interest rate by only a half point.

July’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, released by the BLS on Tuesday, reported 11.2 million non-farm job openings at the end of July, up slightly from June’s total of 11 million. On Thursday, the Department of Labor (DOL) reported that weekly unemployment claims decreased in the week ending Aug. 27, a two-month low.

Investors, already spooked by Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s determination to do what it takes to whip inflation back to the Fed’s 2 percent goal—as outlined in his speech last week at the Kansas City Fed’s Policy Symposium—will also be looking for additional inflationary indicators when the BLS releases its next Consumer Price Index Summary on Sept. 13.