The quality and timeliness of economic data produced by the agency are critical to Federal Reserve interest rate decisions that affect everything from mortgage rates to corporate borrowing. Those economic indicators are also closely watched by Wall Street traders and business leaders, informing investment and hiring decisions.
Former BLS officials and economists had cautioned that the absence of the data due to the shutdown could pose significant problems for both the Fed and businesses against an uncertain economic backdrop. Official government data published prior to the Oct. 1 shutdown indicated that the labor market was softening and inflation was starting to climb.
It is unclear how many BLS staffers will be brought back to conduct the work or for how long, amid a shutdown that has yet to see a clear path toward a resolution in Congress.
The challenges posed by the shutdown hit the agency as it was already facing scrutiny over the quality of its employment data. President Donald Trump’s firing of BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer fueled concern that future reports might eventually be manipulated for political gain.
The upper ranks of BLS were depleted before the lapse in government appropriations — particularly after Trump fired the Senate-confirmed McEntarfer back in August. The White House subsequently nominated Heritage Foundation chief economist E.J. Antoni but withdrew his bid last week after intense scrutiny over his partisan work and incendiary social media posts.
Acting Commissioner William Wiatrowski was the only BLS employee who had not initially been furloughed, according to DOL’s contingency plan. The agency was unaffected by the previous shutdown under Trump that began in late 2018 and stretched for more than a month.
BLS did suspend operations in the 2013 shutdown during the Obama administration, which lasted between Oct. 1 and Oct. 16 of that year. In that instance, BLS resumed data collection after the government reopened.
Wiatrowski did not respond to requests for comment. A DOL spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
Labor Department recalls furloughed workers to compile critical inflation data
