Politics

White House Says Shutdown May Permanently Erase Key Economic Data

By Jake Beardslee · November 13, 2025

A senior White House official warned Wednesday that several major U.S. economic reports for October may never be released due to the prolonged government shutdown, raising new concerns on Wall Street as the impasse stretches beyond six weeks, the longest in American history.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the shutdown has severely disrupted the government’s ability to collect and process critical data that economists, investors, and the Federal Reserve rely on. “The Democrats may have permanently damaged the Federal Statistical system with October CPI and jobs reports likely never being released,” Leavitt told reporters. “All of that economic data released will be permanently impaired, leaving our policymakers at the Fed, flying blind at a critical period.”

She added that “The Democrat shutdown made it extraordinarily difficult for economists, investors and policymakers at the Federal Reserve to receive critical government data.”

Among the missing indicators are the monthly nonfarm payrolls count, the consumer price index, retail sales, trade figures, and personal income and spending data. Financial markets had largely expected these reports to be delayed, but still published. Leavitt’s comments cast doubt on whether some datasets can be reconstructed at all.

Leavitt also warned that the shutdown could shave as much as two percentage points off fourth-quarter GDP. Earlier in the day, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett estimated the impasse might trim “up to 1.5 percentage points from current-quarter GDP,” saying, “For sure, it’s going to have an impact on this quarter,” during an appearance at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C.

Many economists, however, see the broader impact as limited. Goldman Sachs raised its year-end GDP forecast to 1.3% and nudged its third-quarter estimate up to 3.7%, noting it expects the shutdown to have “a limited impact” on the quality of jobs data. Citigroup economists said the delayed September payrolls report could arrive as early as Friday or early next week, with the October report possibly pushed into December.

Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial, said some labor data is easier to recover because it relies on concrete business surveys. But he noted that household-based employment surveys are more vulnerable when collection windows are missed. “It’s just the more nuanced qualitative surveys that cannot be replicated,” Roach said, according to CNBC. “The water has gone under that bridge already.” He added that while past shutdowns mainly caused delays, this one lasted long enough to prevent agencies from gathering the data in the first place.