While the government is closed, jobs and inflation data go unreported
The government shutdown will throw important federal data-gathering activities for a loop, likely delaying Friday’s release of the hotly anticipated jobs report.
The “employment situation” report, which shows the unemployment rate and number of new jobs created during the prior month, is a key gauge of economic health and is closely watched by investors and policymakers alike, especially as the labor market has been showing signs of cooling. A contingency plan released by the US Department of Labor on Monday noted that the Bureau of Labor Statistics would completely cease operations in a shutdown, meaning the report wouldn’t be published unless the shutdown is very short-lived.
The longer the shutdown stretches on, the bigger a deal it will be for those awaiting the data. September’s initial jobs data has already been collected and essentially just needs someone in the government to hit publish, Oxford Economics chief US economist Ryan Sweet told Yahoo Finance.
While there’s “never a good time for the government to shut down,” the current moment is especially inopportune, he said. The Federal Reserve, which cut rates in September, is closely monitoring the health of the labor market and meets again in late October.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/while-the-government-is-closed-jobs-and-inflation-data-go-unreported-090023761.html