:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/caitolbldg-59a86e8bb501e8001108848e.jpg "As the Government Shutdown Drags On, These Major Economic Reports Are Stuck in Limbo")
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Key Takeaways
- The U.S. government shutdown entered its 20th day Monday, lengthening an ever-growing list of skipped economic reports.
- Investors are increasingly in the dark about everything from job creation to grain exports as statistical agencies stay shuttered.
- Economists see a growing risk that important economic data for October will never be produced.
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.
What This Means For The Economy
The longer investors and leaders go without key economic data, the greater the risk of making mistakes based on outdated or imperfect information.
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.
| Data Dark Age | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Report | Statistical Agency |
| Oct. 1 | Construction Spending | Census Bureau |
| Oct. 1 | Grain Crushings | Department of Agriculture |
| Oct. 1 | Fats and Oils | Department of Agriculture |
| Oct. 2 | Motor Vehicle Sales | Bureau of Economic Analysis |
| Oct. 2 | Export Sales | Department of Agriculture |
| Oct. 2 | Weekly Jobless Claims | Department of Labor |
| Oct. 2 | Factory Orders | Census Bureau |
| Oct. 3 | Employment Situation | Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| Oct. 6 | Crop Progress | Department of Agriculture |
| Oct. 7 | International Trade in Goods and Services | Bureau of Economic Analysis |
| Oct. 8 | Business Formation | Census Bureau |
| Oct. 9 | Weekly Jobless Claims | Department of Labor |
| Oct. 9 | Export Sales | Department of Agriculture |
| Oct. 9 | Wholesale Sales and Inventories (Preliminary) | Census Bureau |
| Oct. 9 | Supply/Demand (agricultural products) | Department of Agriculture |
| Oct. 9 | Crop Production | Department of Agriculture |
| Oct. 14 | Crop Progress | Department of Agriculture |
| Oct. 15 | Real Earnings | Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| Oct. 16 | Weekly Jobless Claims | Department of Labor |
| Oct. 16 | Producer Price Index | Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| Oct. 16 | Retail Sales | Census Bureau |
| Oct. 17 | Export Sales | Department of Agriculture |
| Oct. 17 | Import and Export Prices | Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| Oct. 17 | Housing Starts | Census Bureau |
| Oct. 17 | Industrial Production | Federal Reserve |
| Oct. 17 | Treasury International Capital | Treasury Department |
| Oct. 20 | Crop Progress | Department of Agriculture |
