\n Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling on the Trump administration to release the September jobs report on Friday despite the ongoing government shutdown, a Senate aide told CNN on Thursday.\n <\/p>\n
\n The monthly jobs report, compiled and published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is arguably the most critical piece of US economic data released each month. Its importance is even greater now, given concerns about weakness in the job market <\/a>and the rising unemployment rate.\n <\/p>\n \n Employees furloughed at the BLS have told Warren\u2019s office the September labor data has been collected and is likely ready to be released, the Senate Banking Committee aide said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cLet\u2019s be clear: the jobs data scheduled to come out this Friday has undoubtedly been collected and the President must release it,\u201d Warren, the top Democrat on the committee, said in a statement to CNN. \u201cWithout it, the Federal Reserve will not have the full picture it needs to make decisions this month about interest rates that will impact every family across the country.\u201d The Fed\u2019s next two-day policy meeting is scheduled for October 28 and 29.\n <\/p>\n \n According to a contingency plan published<\/a> earlier this week by the Labor Department, major economic data, including the all-important jobs report, won\u2019t be released during the government shutdown because the BLS is dark. If the shutdown lasts long enough, it will also delay the collection and release of a pair of major inflation reports set to be published in mid-October.\n <\/p>\n \n Warren sent a letter on Tuesday to William Wiatrowski, the acting commissioner of the BLS, and Russ Vought, Trump\u2019s budget chief, requesting the jobs report get released on Friday as previously scheduled.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhile the data has been processed and there was time to prepare for the data\u2019s release in the event of a government shutdown, the Administration is choosing not to release Friday\u2019s jobs report,\u201d Warren wrote in a letter shared with CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n To make its case, Warren cited comments from William Beach, who served as BLS commissioner during Trump\u2019s first term.\n <\/p>\n \n Beach wrote on Wednesday that the September data from the BLS surveys of businesses and households has \u201cbeen collected and processed.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe jobs report is likely written in final draft and could be released on Friday, should the agency reopen,\u201d Beach wrote in a Q&A <\/a>published by the Fiscal Lab on Capitol Hill, an independent research center.\n <\/p>\n \n In a statement, the White House blamed Democrats for the shutdown. \u201cBusinesses, families, policymakers, and markets rely on timely and accurate public data for their decision-making, and it\u2019s unfortunate that Democrats are gleefully throwing a wrench in our economy by shutting down the government to push freebies for illegal immigrants,\u201d White House spokesman Kush Desai said.\n <\/p>\n