For those who follow the economy closely — like Bankrate's Mark Hamrick — the first Friday of the month is typically spent looking over new jobs data.
"A typical jobs report Friday is often the most consequential day of the month for those of us monitoring the economy, because the job market is so important," Hamrick said.
But because of a government shutdown, this Friday was different. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which releases the monthly labor data, is closed.
"Lacking this data, we're having to sort of walk with blinders on for every stakeholder in the U.S. economy, which is just about everybody," Hamrick said.
That includes the Federal Reserve, which relies on government economic data when it makes its interest rate decisions, says economics professor Abby Hall.
"This makes it much, much more difficult for them to assess and do their jobs," Hall said.
There are private companies that release jobs data, including payroll processor ADP and HR data tracker Revelio Labs. But each gets their data differently and provides different estimates.
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"Of course, we're going to get different answers," said Loujaina Abdelwahed, a senior economist at Revelio Labs. "I personally don't think that anyone can 100% replace the BLS."
For September, Revelio labs reported the U.S. added 60,000 total jobs, while ADP reported private sector jobs dropped by 32,000.
The difference shows the need for more in depth government data, says Hamrick.
"The data we get from the Labor Ddepartment on the job market is the gold standard," he said. "And so lacking that, we don't have an important piece of the puzzle trying to understand what is happening with the broader economy and the job markets."
