"How it works: Businesses use gold-standard government data, like the jobs report, to set wages and make hiring, pricing and investment decisions. Investors watch the numbers so closely that they can drive big stock reactions. Policymakers use the data to set minimum wage standards and increase food assistance or other important benefits. Where it stands: Since the shutdown began on Oct. 1, government agencies have stopped collecting or releasing information about:"
"The labor market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics didn't release a September employment report and hasn't collected any data in October. We don't know the unemployment rate or how many jobs businesses are creating. Few companies appear to be hiring, and job anxiety is skyrocketing. Public health. Weekly numbers that track how many Americans are coming down with the flu, RSV or COVID-19 haven't been updated."
Gold-standard federal statistics guide business wage-setting, hiring, pricing, investment decisions, investor market reactions, and policymaking for wages and benefit levels. Since Oct. 1 shutdown, federal agencies stopped collecting or releasing key datasets: Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data (no September report, no October collection), weekly respiratory illness tracking for flu/RSV/COVID-19, USDA export and supply reports during harvest and tariff uncertainty, and the American Community Survey public-use microdata sample. The data gaps leave employers, investors, policymakers, health officials, farmers, commodity traders, state and local governments, and researchers without crucial information for operational, financial, and public-health decisions.
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