Federal agencies such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) have been shut down since Wednesday after Republican and Democratic lawmakers failed to reach an agreement to approve the budget for the central government’s operations in the new fiscal year.
The release of employment and unemployment indices scheduled for last week has already been postponed.
Both agencies have warned that their websites “are not being updated” due to the shutdown, and the portals will remain outdated at least until Monday, when new votes are scheduled in Congress.
It is likely that the BEA’s report on the U.S. trade balance in August with its trading partners, scheduled for Tuesday, will be delayed. This document helps to understand the effects of increased tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump after his return to power in January.
On Friday, the BLS did not release, as planned, the data on employment and the unemployment rate for September.
This data is crucial for the Federal Reserve (Fed) in making monetary policy decisions, which could complicate the central bank’s monitoring of labor market trends with less than a month to go before the next interest rate meeting on October 28 and 29.
The absence of these statistical data comes at a time when the world’s largest economy is engulfed in uncertainty, stemming from the trade war and a slowdown in the labor market.
The prolonged suspension of agency functions could also affect the release of upcoming inflation data, scheduled for October 15, another important indicator for the Fed and economic analysts.
The BEA is scheduled to release the first estimate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the third quarter of the year on October 30.
Democratic leaders in Congress stated on Saturday they are willing to extend the current government shutdown until reaching an agreement with Republicans to strengthen funding for Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act), whose credits are set to expire at the end of the year.
Republicans accuse Democrats of wanting to fund health care for “illegal immigrants,” a claim the Democratic caucus denies.
The Republican majority (53) in the Senate needs seven more votes to pass a new budget.
