Labor Department won’t release full October jobs report, a casualty of the 43-day federal shutdown
WASHINGTON– The Labor Department said Wednesday it would not release a full jobs report for October because the 43-day federal government shutdown prevented it from calculating the unemployment rate and other key numbers.
Instead, it will release some October jobs data – including the number of jobs created by employers last month – as well as the full November jobs report, due a few weeks late, on December 16.
The ministry’s report on the “employment situation” is usually published on the first Friday of the month. But the government shutdown disrupted data collection and delayed the release of reports. For example, the September jobs report, which now comes out on Friday, was originally scheduled to be released on October 3.
The monthly employment report consists of two parts: a household survey which is used, among other things, to determine the unemployment rate; and the “establishment” survey of businesses, nonprofits and government agencies, used to track job creation, wages and other measures of labor market health.
The Labor Ministry said Wednesday that the October household survey could not be conducted due to the shutdown and could not be conducted retroactively. But he was able to collect hiring figures from employers, and these will be published in the full report in November.
Wednesday’s announcement means September employment figures will likely come under closer scrutiny on Friday. It’s the last comprehensive measure of hiring and unemployment that Federal Reserve policymakers will see before their Dec. 9-10 meeting to decide whether to cut their benchmark interest rate for the third time this year.
Employment figures have recently been controversial. After the July jobs report proved disappointing, President Donald Trump abruptly fired the head of data collection, Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer.
McEntarfer herself was quick to say there was nothing suspicious about Wednesday’s announcement. “No conspiracy here, folks,” she posted on the social media site Bluesky. “The BLS was completely closed for six weeks. Business payroll data can be collected retroactively for October. The household survey cannot be conducted retrospectively. This is simply a simple consequence of furloughing all field staff for over a month.”
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AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this report.
