In response to the recent government shutdown, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has announced that it won’t release inflation data for the month of October.
Even now that government funding has been restored and normal operations have resumed, the bureau updated its website to state that some October data will no longer be available.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Due to a lapse in funding, BLS was unable to collect the October 2025 reference period survey data, according to a statement. BLS is unable to collect these data retroactively.
The Real Earnings summary and the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a report that is frequently used to determine inflation by determining how much money is spent on retail items, are among the data that have been cancelled.
The bureau stated that it would use “nonsurvey data sources” to make calculations for some reports, including the Consumer Price Index, that would be included in a upcoming November report.
On December 18, the November Consumer Price Index will be released later than anticipated.
The longest government shutdown in US history lasted for nearly 43 days.
After the US Congress missed a deadline to pass legislation to keep the government funded on September 30, it began on October 1.
Republicans had hoped to pass a resolution that would not alter the current spending levels. Democrats had argued that some US citizens were unable to access healthcare because of recent restrictions on government programs.
Additionally, they issued a warning that the Affordable Care Act’s insurance subsidies are scheduled to expire by the end of the fiscal year. They predicted that many Americans’ insurance premiums would rise without a further increase in those subsidies.
Republicans resisted engaging in negotiations until their continuing resolution was passed. Democrats feared that there would be no more opportunity to address healthcare spending before the year’s end if the continuing resolution was passed without making any changes.
As a result, there was a deadlock between the two parties. During the shutdown, non-essential government tasks were put on hold, and many federal employees were forced to work.
A breakthrough only started to emerge on November 10. A budget bill passed by seven Democrats and one independent late that night to pass the government funding bill through January 30.
The House of Representatives approved the bill on November 12th, 222 to 209. The legislation was signed into law on the same day as Donald Trump.
Trump had made an explicit effort to use the shutdown to obliterate federal programs that he thought would be beneficial to Democratic strongholds.
He also made an attempt to blame the political left for the government services’ lapse, even though he acknowledged the public’s outcry against Republicans after Democrats won crucial elections in November.
He stated at a breakfast for Republican senators on November 5 that “the shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans” if you read the pollsters. That played a significant role, they said.
The shutdown had already caused a warning by the Trump administration in October that the month’s consumer price data would suffer.
Trump’s economic record was praised while a potential data collection error was slammed by Trump officials in a White House statement. Once more, they pointed fingers at the Democrats for any slowed economic growth.
The Democratic Shutdown, according to the statement, “risks grinding that progress to a halt.”
The White House has discovered that, for the first time in history, there won’t likely be an inflation release because surveyors can’t go there on the ground, putting the burden on policymakers and the markets for fear of an economic calamity.
The most recent consumer price index data since September revealed a 3.5% increase in inflation across all retail products over the previous 12-month period.
For food alone, inflation for that time period was thought to be 3.1%.
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply