Economic data isn’t flowing as quickly or smoothly these days, thanks to the federal government shutdown.
The release of the Labor Department’s monthly inflation data, which had been scheduled for release earlier this week, has been delayed until Oct. 24. According to The Associated Press, the department called back workers to put together data that was collected before the shutdown started.
The figures are necessary to allow the government to calculate the annual cost of living adjustment for tens of millions of recipients of benefit programs such as Social Security.
The delay leaves the Federal Reserve with a murkier sense of the economic reality as the economy enters a challenging phase of stubbornly persistent inflation and a sharp slowdown in hiring.
The shutdown could make things worse for agencies like the Fed if it continues, because government agencies cannot collect the raw data that are then compiled into the monthly reports on jobs, inflation, and other economic trends, the AP reporeted.
For instance, the September employment report, which had been scheduled for release Oct. 3, was not issued because of the shutdown, despite the fat it was basically finished before the government closed
But October data could be delayed much longer.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told an audience at the National Association for Business Economics that the central bank for now is looking at data from the private sector, such as payroll processor ADP, which issues its own monthly report on hiring by U.S. businesses, to gauge the economy. “We’ll start to miss that data and particularly the October data,” Powell said, according to the AP. “If this goes on for a while, they won’t be collecting it. And it could become more challenging.”
