750,000 workers furloughed in US government shutdown

An entrance station sign is seen at the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park on the second day of the federal government shutdown yesterday.

Alternative data from public and private sources, a substitute for official statistics delayed by a government shutdown, showed the US job market likely remained stalled in September with sluggish hiring but no change in an unemployment rate economists see as influenced by falling numbers of foreign-born workers.
The federal government’s 15th shutdown since 1981, with some 750,000 workers furloughed, has delayed publication of key reports including the September unemployment and jobs data due today from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a key reference point for Federal Reserve policymakers who meet in a little under four weeks to decide whether to cut interest rates again.
Also delayed so far are the weekly jobless claims report and factory orders and construction spending data for August.
The Chicago Fed report, which combines private and available public data, estimated the September jobless rate was 4.3%, the same as in August and evidence that a feared rapid rise in unemployment had not yet begun.
But details of the report, along with other data, pointed to ongoing sluggishness in the labour market that is likely to keep the Fed poised to cut the benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point.
The Fed last month cut its policy rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a range of 4-4.25% after job gains slowed sharply and the unemployment rate ticked up in August. (Reuters) Page 8