Impact of Government Shutdown on Employment Data
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is currently in its "reference week", a period when employment data is typically collected.
In normal circumstances, the BLS would be gathering data this week, but the government shutdown has halted this process, potentially having economic implications.
The shutdown has already resulted in the absence of a September jobs report, and now it will affect the October jobs report.
“Since the government is shut down for this week that contains the 12th, that means they are not collecting data that would be in the jobs report,”
said Kate Bahn, chief economist and SVP at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, in a conversation with "Marketplace" host Kai Ryssdal.
Bahn noted that once the government reopens, it will take a long time to collect retrospective data, leading to numerous revisions.
Author's summary: Government shutdown affects employment data collection.