There May Not Be an Official Jobs Report This Month (and You Can Probably Guess Why)

Official data on the unemployment situation in the U.S. won’t be released this week unless Congress can agree on a budget deal and end the partial government shutdown, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday.

Many analysts believe the report would show a gain of 180,000 new jobs, with the unemployment rate hovering at around 7.3 percent.

Here’s what the Bureau of Labor Statistics posted on its website Tuesday:

This website is currently not being updated due to the suspension of Federal government services. The last update to the site was Monday, September 30. During the shutdown period BLS will not collect data, issue reports, or respond to public inquiries. Updates to the site will start again when the Federal government resumes operations. Revised schedules will be issued as they become available.

Since it’s looking unlikely that Congress will come together to agree on a short-term spending bill to keep government funded, we probably won’t see the official nonfarm payrolls report with the latest unemployment numbers, which is supposed to come out Friday.

To get a sense of where we stand on unemployment, we can look to the ADP jobs report, out Thursday. ADP, a private payroll company, releases its own jobs report each month, though the company’s numbers don't always match up with official government numbers.

The notice at the top of the Bureau of Labor Statistics website.

Still, this week’s unemployment aid applications report will be released Thursday as scheduled. The Labor Department, which is separate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, said earlier this week it plans to release its weekly report, according to Reuters.

The agency’s shutdown contingency plan "authorizes the release of the weekly report during a lapse in appropriations."

Also, it’s worth noting that the Commerce Department won't be issuing reports either (this includes trade and retail sales data).

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Featured image Getty Images.

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