No jobs report? Here’s what economists are tracking instead

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Oct. 3, 2025, 10:16 a.m. ETThe government shutdown delayed the Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report, “arguably the most important piece of information” for the Federal Reserve to review before its meeting at the end of the month, according to Bank of America Global Research economists.The jobs report was due out Oct. 3. However, the federal shutdown forced the bureau to furlough employees as well as pause data collection and dissemination. If the shutdown lingers, it could also postpone the bureau’s next Consumer Price Index report, a key benchmark for inflation, expected Oct. 15. While BLS releases are widely viewed as gold standard of economic data, the Fed and economists rely on a broad range of reports to gauge the health of the economy. “At this point, while it’s an incomplete picture, we’re not flying completely blind,” Mike Skordeles, head of U.S. economics at Truist, told USA TODAY. “Obviously, if the shutdown drags on for longer than a week or so, that stale...
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US building jobs plunge to near decade low

US building jobs plunge to near decade low

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Construction workers taking a break in New Orleans, Louisiana (Valentin M Armianu/Dreamstime) The construction industry had only 188,000 job openings in August, down 38% from the month before and 38% from August 2024, according to analysis of US Bureau of Labor Statistics data by industry body Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). ABC chief economist Anirban Basu said it was the lowest job openings rate in nearly a decade and shows the sector is contracting. The number of people quitting construction jobs also rose sharply to 146,000 quits in August, up 62% from 90,000 quits in July, and up 15% from 127,000 quits in August last year. The data comes on the heels of a survey by another trade body, the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), which found that 45% of firms say labour shortages are causing project delays, and that 28% of respondents reported being affected directly or indirectly by immigration enforcement activities initiated by President Trump after taking office in January. Table courtesy...
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How ADP employment data compares with official BLS jobs reports

How ADP employment data compares with official BLS jobs reports

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The ongoing shutdown of major pieces of the federal government has meant missed paychecks for federal workers, no new loans from the Small Business Administration, no giant panda cam from the National Zoo – and no jobs data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS. Federal economic data historically has been considered the gold standard, and the BLS’s monthly report on national employment and unemployment is a key resource for policymakers, economists, investors and others. It helps businesses decide whether to invest or pull back, the Federal Reserve decide to raise or lower interest rates, and much more. Without BLS’s reports, many economy watchers turn to other indicators to get a sense of the nation’s labor markets. One alternative is the national employment report from Automatic Data Processing Inc., or ADP. ADP is one of the nation’s largest human resources technology companies. Its business includes processing payrolls for more than 500,000 U.S. employers covering some 26 million workers. That’s roughly a fifth of the country’s private sector workforce. ADP’s...
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When to expect jobs, inflation numbers after the government reopens

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Nov. 11, 2025Updated Nov. 13, 2025, 5:54 p.m. ETWith the federal government on the verge of reopening, the economic data drought caused by the shutdown may also soon come to an end.As the Bureau of Labor Statistics prepares to release weeks of delayed reports, economists caution that the resulting flood of information won’t arrive all at once. It also may not perfectly capture what happened in the U.S. economy during the shutdown.Because data collection was suspended at the agency, two monthly jobs reports and a release on third-quarter GDP were postponed, among others. The consumer price index, due out Nov. 13, is also expected to be delayed. Private-sector metrics have helped fill in some of the gaps, but government statistics are still viewed as the gold standard.When will the BLS release data after the shutdown?September’s employment report is expected to be the first major release after the shutdown, as that data was already collected before it began. The release of other key metrics on inflation and spending is expected to take longer, possibly one or two weeks, according to Morgan Stanley economists. Labor Day sales are heating up: Shop the best deals before they're goneGoldman Sachs...
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Companies in the U.S. added just 42,000 jobs in October, ADP says

Companies in the U.S. added just 42,000 jobs in October, ADP says

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Private companies added just 42,000 jobs October, payroll processor ADP said Wednesday, a fresh datapoint that highlights continued tightness in the labor market but one that is better than some previous months.The ADP report, which does not include public sector workers and only covers employment at private companies, is one of the few data points available as the government shutdown drags on. That impasse has led to the temporary closure of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which still has not released last month’s jobs report and likely won’t release the jobs report that would have normally been released on Friday.The official national unemployment rate has steadily ticked up this year, from 4% in January to 4.3% in August, as hiring has slowed. The most recent jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that only 22,000 jobs were added in August, and that was after it revised down hiring in June and July by thousands. The BLS said in...
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Want an AI job at Treasury? Write a 10-page analysis of ‘Great Gatsby’

Want an AI job at Treasury? Write a 10-page analysis of ‘Great Gatsby’

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A job posting for an information technology specialist focused on artificial intelligence at the Treasury Department is asking applicants to write a 10-page analysis, with citations, of metaphors in the “The Great Gatsby.” In addition to the essay on the 1925 classic written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the notice, which appears to have been posted to usajobs.gov on Monday, requires interested individuals to: “convert the [Gatsby] analysis into a concise 200-word executive summary. translate both the full essay and summary into Spanish and Mandarin. create a table comparing the metaphor themes across three other novels of your choice, with one paragraph of synthesis. rewrite the original essay in the style of a scientific paper with an abstract.” Applicants selected for the direct-hire position “will be responsible for formulating technical strategies, standards and architectures that advance the secure and ethical deployment of AI across Treasury and, by extension, the federal government,” according to the posting. The listed salary is about $89,000 to $195,000 at general schedule classification...
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$200K Salaries and National Impact: Why the New U.S. Tech Force Is a Boost for Technologists

$200K Salaries and National Impact: Why the New U.S. Tech Force Is a Boost for Technologists

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OPM established the United States Tech Force to recruit top technologists to modernize the federal government. This new organization is a government-wide effort to surge teams of top engineers, data scientists, and technology leaders to tackle the government’s most complex and large-scale challenges. This group will collaborate with leading private-sector technology companies, and participants will receive technical training and work closely with senior industry managers. OPM Director Scott Kupor said. “If you want to help your country lead in the age of rapid technological advancement, we need you. Tech Force offers the chance to build and lead projects of national importance, while creating powerful career opportunities in both public service and the private sector.” Implementation This effort is designed to fast-track all of the President’s growth initiatives from onshoring production and AI to space exploration and everything in between. The Tech Force will ensure the federal government has the talent to modernize its technology systems, and it will serve as the medium that seamlessly...
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Dollar slips ahead of August U.S. jobs data at the end of the week

Dollar slips ahead of August U.S. jobs data at the end of the week

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The dollar held steady near a two-week high on Monday as markets ramped up bets on a rate hike after hawkish remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, while the yen slipped back through the closely watched 160-per-dollar level.Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe dollar edged lower on Monday as traders waited on key U.S. jobs data due later this week, after hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh ​on Friday renewed bets on a ​September interest rate hike.Traders will be ​focused on jobs and inflation data for August that is due before the Fed's September 15-16 meeting for clues on whether a hike is likely.The U.S. central bank will "have work to do" if policymakers do not get the confidence they need that inflation is heading down to 2%, ⁠Warsh ‌said on Friday, in his clearest indication yet that further tightening may be ⁠needed to curb price pressure."Warsh's prepared remarks seemed designed to lift rate-hike expectations, rebalance the September debate towards the hawks and rebuild his inflation-fighting credibility,"...
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Andrew Yang Warns AI May Wipe Out 40 Million US Jobs

Andrew Yang Warns AI May Wipe Out 40 Million US Jobs

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Andrew Yang has warned for several years that automation would upend the American workforce.In the run-up to his 2020 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, he predicted that self-driving cars alone could displace a million mostly male truck drivers with limited education — a shift that could "destabilize society" and even trigger "riots in the street," he told The New York Times in 2018.Seven years later, Yang says the crisis he feared is no longer hypothetical."It's aging very, very well, unfortunately," he told CNN's Michael Smerconish of his predictions in a recent interview.AI job losses are no longer theoreticalRecent analyses indicate that AI and automation are already capable of performing a significant share of US labor tasks and are reshaping employment.MIT's Iceberg Index, released last week, found that current AI systems can already technically perform skills representing 11.7% of the US labor market — roughly $1.2 trillion in wages across finance, healthcare, and professional services.The New York Times, citing internal...
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