Sen. Elizabeth Warren pushed the Trump administration to release the September jobs report on Friday, after the Bureau of Labor Statistics virtually shuttered its operations once government funding dried up.
In a statement, Warren said Trump should order the release of the monthly employment report despite the government shutdown. She argued it would provide greater clarity into the state of the economy, which has shown signs of tepid job growth in recent months.
"Let’s be clear: the jobs data scheduled to come out this Friday has undoubtedly been collected and the President must release it," Warren said. "Without it, the Federal Reserve will not have the full picture it needs to make decisions this month about interest rates that will impact every family across the country."
Warren sent letters to White House budget director Russell Vought and acting BLS chief William Wiatrowski pushing for the jobs data to be published on time. However, the White House was unmoved.
"Businesses, families, policymakers, and markets rely on timely and accurate public data for their decision-making, and it’s unfortunate that Democrats are gleefully throwing a wrench in our economy by shutting down the government to push freebies for illegal immigrants," White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement.
A probable delay in the September jobs report would inject further uncertainty into the U.S. economy, at least for a brief period of time. Of the 2,055 employees at the BLS, only one has been deemed essential during the shutdown: Wiatrowski, the agency head.
Ex-BLS Commissioner chief William Beach wrote in a blog post that the September jobs data has already been collected and processed, so it could be released in short order once the government reopens. But until then, the BLS is unable to publish its monthly reports.
Should the shutdown stretch deeper into October, it imperils the timely release of other important data releases. The BLS is tasked with publishing the Consumer Price Index, better known as the monthly inflation report; the Producer Price Index, which tracks changes in selling prices; and the Import/Export Price indexes for trade.
The BLS has attracted scrutiny since Trump fired its previous commissioner, Erika McEntarfer. The White House on Tuesday yanked its nomination of conservative economist E.J. Antoni to be the next BLS chief after he failed to attract enough support in the Senate.