Nov. 19 (UPI) — The federal government said Wednesday that October’s full jobs report will not be released following the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said instead it will unveil its October payroll data in addition to a full report for November.
October’s unemployment rate will not be included because, according to BLS officials, those figures “could not be collected” due to the shutdown.
Last week, the Trump administration warned the shutdown by the Republican-controlled congress may likely impact the Consumer Price Index and federal jobs reports slated to be released as expected.
The White House claimed the showdown “permanently damaged the federal statistical system, with October CPI and jobs reports likely never being released.”
But the bureau indicated it will bump its November jobs data release nearly two weeks to Dec. 16.
Some 42,000 jobs were added in October in companies with at least 250 workers following September’s drop of around 29,000, according to Automatic Data Processing Inc.
“Private employers added jobs in October for the first time since July, but hiring was modest relative to what we reported earlier this year,” Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, said earlier this month.
Meanwhile, the lack of data fuels further speculation on Wall Street.