We won’t get an October jobs report — and it throws a wrench into the Fed’s next interest rate decision

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics will not release an October jobs report due to the government shutdown.
• November’s jobs data release is delayed to December 16, and will include some data from October.
• That puts the report after the Fed’s final meeting of the year on December 9 and 10.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Wednesday that it will not release an October jobs report, citing a lack of data collection during the government shutdown.

BLS said it could not collect household data from the Current Population Survey, “which is not able to be retroactively collected.” That information is central to the monthly jobs report and is used to calculate the unemployment rate.

The collection period for November 2025 data will also be extended, BLS announced, and extra processing time will be added. The Bureau will now release data on December 16, rather than the originally scheduled December 5. That report will also include data on job creation in October from the business establishment survey.

This means that the Federal Reserve will not have access to the most timely jobs data before its last meeting of the year on December 9 and 10. The Fed relies on monthly unemployment and job vacancy data to make decisions, and the last full jobs report was released in early September.

The Bureau is releasing the September jobs report on November 20, after delaying publication during the shutdown.

Following BLS’ announcement, CME Fed Watch’s prediction of a hold in the December meeting rose from roughly 50% to 66%.

The Bureau also said that it will not publish a separate Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for September, but will include that data in the October report scheduled to be released December 9.

The government shutdown lasted for a record 43 days, impacting funding and operations across all agencies.