As the Government Shutdown Drags On, These Major Economic Reports Are Stuck in Limbo

As the government shutdown drags on, the list of skipped economic reports grows longer by the day, leaving the public and policymakers in a data fog.

The government shut down Oct. 1 after Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill couldn’t come to a funding agreement. The shutdown closed much of the federal government, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, and other statistical agencies.

Forecasters don’t expect the impasse to be resolved any time soon, and betting markets are banking on the shutdown lasting for at least a couple more weeks, according to Polymarket.

At 20 days, the shutdown is the third-longest in history as of Monday. The longer shutdowns of 2018 (34 days) and 1995 (21 days) were considered “partial” shutdowns because certain departments remained open. The current shutdown is a “full” shutdown because Congress has not passed funding resolutions for any departments, although it is continuing to carry out certain critical functions including the military operations and Social Security payments.

Here are the reports that were supposed to be published in October but were skipped because of the shutdown. The reports were at least delayed, with economists seeing a growing risk that October’s data will be skipped entirely if the government does not reopen soon.