Shutdown nixes latest jobs report but here’s what we know

The closely watched monthly jobs report from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics was due to be released Friday morning, data that informs and shapes actions for a host of government and business entities and has been particularly vital amid a volatile U.S. economy and slumping employment sector.

But thanks to a congressional impasse that shut down all non-critical federal government functions, that report, which includes assessments of hiring volumes, wage fluctuations, quit rates and the national unemployment reading and other labor data, is on indefinite hold pending the resolution of outstanding budget issues.

The most recent BLS data reflects a dismal U.S. labor market with growth over the summer months of June, July and August averaging just 29,000 per month, a rate that falls below the break-even level for keeping the unemployment rate steady. The most recent federal unemployment reading came in at 4.3% in August, the highest since 2021.

Others sources of jobs data

In lieu of the BLS data, which relies primarily on survey responses gathered from tens of thousands of businesses and individuals, some insight about what was going on with the U.S. labor market in September can be gleaned from other sources, though the information is disparate and typically comes with qualifying constraints.

Dow Jones regularly releases results of its labor market survey of economists ahead of the BLS report. While the report has a fairly solid track record, it has been a little more hit-and-miss in recent months due to economic conditions Fed chairman Jerome Powell has described as “historically unusual.” For September, results of that survey projected job gains of 45,000 new hires for the month.

Human resources software developer ADP has been issuing its own monthly jobs report since 2006. That data was once considered somewhat shaky, but the company upgraded its reporting methodology in partnership with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab in 2022, per a report from the Wall Street Journal.

ADP released its September labor report on Wednesday, based on data from 26 million employees, estimating U.S. employers shed 32,000 jobs for the month, with the biggest losses showing up in the professional business services and leisure/hospitality sectors.

While ongoing and robust consumer spending has helped buoy overall U.S. economic growth, ADP analysts note the jobs sector, which has been in decline for most of 2025, doesn’t appear to be swinging back the other direction any time soon.

“Despite the strong economic growth we saw in the second quarter, this month’s release further validates what we’ve been seeing in the labor market, that U.S. employers have been cautious with hiring,” Nela Richardson, ADP chief economist, said in the September employment report.

Another new report

At the other end of private sector September jobs reporting is Revelio Labs, a workforce analytics company that just jumped into the employment data game for the first time this month.

In a report issued Thursday, and based on “individual level data collected from online professional profiles,” U.S. employers added 60,000 new jobs last month.

Revelio’s entrance into employment reporting was driven by President Donald Trump’s recent decision to fire BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer amid claims by the administration that the agency was releasing “rigged” reports.

Revelio chief economist Lisa Simon told the Wall Street Journal that “with the firing of the commissioner, our founder and I looked at each other and we’re like, ‘Well, we gotta do something.’”

While it’s impossible to predict how long the current closure of government operations will last, previous shutdowns have rarely stretched more than a few days. The most recent was also the longest one in U.S. history, according to NBC News, when a disagreement over funding for Trump’s border wall during his first term closed the government for 35 days in December 2018 into January 2019.