Labor Dept. collecting jobs data despite shutdown

Thousands of government workers aren't getting a paycheck, parks remain closed and the Food and Drug Administration has stopped doing routine inspections, but the Trump Administration can continue to tout its economic achievements as some government employees continue to toil behind the scenes compiling an array of statistics used to compile key pieces of economic data, the FOX Business Network has learned.

A little know line item in the U.S. Department of Labor’s budget is paying certain employees at agencies including, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census Bureau, to keep collecting data for the Census, consumer price index, unemployment and other economic measurements, despite the ongoing partial government shutdown, according to Labor Department officials.

As a result, the Labor Department has not seen an interruption of data collection for non-farm payroll numbers, unemployment levels, and the labor force participation rate, all of which are set to be released February 1.

This data, as Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said earlier this month at the Economic Club of Washington D.C., provides insight into the financial situation; without which, there is a “less clear picture into the economy.”

According to a DOL spokesperson, Labor has “an annual reimbursable agreement with the Department of Commerce Census Bureau” that provides Commerce with up to $90 million so they can collect data for Labor's “household survey,” a comprehensive assessment of the workforce.

Labor also provides funds for Census to collect The Telephone Point of Purchase Survey (information about where consumers purchase goods and services), American Time Use Survey, and Consumer Expenditure Surveys—all of which will be released later this year.

While the provision is helping bridge the gap, not all economic data is covered by the line item. New Home Sales, gross domestic product and reports on inflation, and trade data, which were initially supposed to be released February 1, will not be released until the government reopens.

The GDP numbers, when they eventually come out, will show that the government shutdown of more than a month has taken a bite out of economic growth. Some economists say growth for the first quarter of 2019 could be close to zero. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Demon parroted that “zero” stat on the bank’s recent earnings call, while adding that he didn’t have a hard number. Even Chairman Powell notes an “extended shutdown… would show up in the data pretty clearly.”

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But the other economic indicators that will be released could help economists determine the impact of the government shutdown much sooner. For example, economists say the unemployment rate is one of the most important measurements of the economy—helping analysts understand where the economy stands in the business cycle, providing the Fed with information about when they should adjust interest rates, and giving companies a better understanding of whether the timing is right to expand their business. According to a spokesperson at Labor, the “Employment Situation report is one of the key economic indicators for experts monitoring the health of the American economy.”

The Bureau of Labor is fully funded despite the partial government shutdown; the department passed a budget last year that appropriates funds through September 30, 2019.