Overview
- National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said BLS will publish October payrolls without an unemployment rate because the household survey was not conducted.
- The administration signaled the October CPI may be skipped after in‑person price collection was halted, raising concerns the data would not meet quality standards.
- Statistical agencies plan a revised release calendar, with economists urging priority for November reports so the Fed has timely inputs for its Dec. 9–10 policy meeting.
- Former BLS leaders said the October household survey is effectively unrecoverable and that CPI’s store‑level price tallies cannot be reconstructed retroactively.
- With official data gaps, markets are leaning on private estimates—Goldman Sachs projects roughly a 50,000 payroll decline in October and ADP shows a 42,000 gain—while the CBO estimates the shutdown reduced fourth‑quarter growth.