The release of America's monthly jobs and unemployment figures, set for Friday, may be postponed.

This potential delay arises from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) planning to suspend all operations if the United States (US) Congress does not pass a budget by today.

In that event, much of the Federal Government would go into what is called a shutdown. This is not an uncommon situation in the US and is often used as a device to pressure decision making processes in Congress.

If Congress does not approve the budget, only certain essential federal government functions continue while others are halted. One of these would be the BLS. Without renewed funding, the agency will halt some data collection and delay reports.

The BLS is the official source of labour and wage data in the US. Its report on employment is one of the most closely monitored economic releases globally, influencing central banks, investors, and governments around the world. South Africa experiences the impact of this report through fluctuations in the dollar, changes in borrowing costs, and trade, all of which react to shifts in global markets.

Any failure to release the relevant reports has a particular political dynamic to it given that President Trump fired the head of the BLS on 1 August, claiming that: “Jobs numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.” 

The Department of Labor’s 73-page shutdown contingency plan released last week Friday stated that: “The BLS will suspend all operations. On an intermittent basis, BLS will liaise with Departmental senior management on matters related to the implementation of orderly shutdown, Departmental Operations, and actions necessary to resume orderly operations.” It adds that: “economic data that are scheduled to be released during the lapse will not be released.”