Friday’s jobs report will be delayed because of the partial government shutdown

The Bureau of Labor Statistics will not release its January employment report as planned on Friday due to the government shutdown, a department spokesman confirmed Monday.

“The January 2026 Employment Situation release will not be released as scheduled on Friday, February 6, 2026. The release will be rescheduled upon the resumption of government funding,” Emily Liddel, deputy commissioner of the BLS, said in a statement. he said.

Following the record close that lasted until early November last year, the bureau also had to postpone a number of routine publications and was just catching up on the aftermath of the event. The BLS also publishes the consumer price index, import and export data, and many other pieces of labor and consumer-related data.

It was not known whether the Commerce Department would also face a delay in its reporting due to the deadlock in Washington.

The decision comes ahead of a busy week for economic data, which will culminate in the release of nonfarm payrolls data, also known as unemployment. In addition to businesses reporting how many people are employed, which provides the nonfarm payroll count, the report also provides the number of households reporting how many people are employed, which is used to tabulate the unemployment rate.

Markets expected the report to show an increase of 55,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to remain steady at 4.4%.

The government closed its doors again on Saturday after Congress failed to come up with a spending plan by a deadline. One sticking point in the bill was funding for the Department of Homeland Security following unrest over efforts to curb illegal immigration.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said over the weekend that he expected the impasse to be resolved by Tuesday.