Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., departs the Capitol en route to the White House after President Barack Obama invited top lawmakers to discuss an end to the government shutdown in Washington on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013.WASHINGTON – The latest victims of the government’s partial shutdown: policy wonks, politicians and TV talking heads who are losing their monthly opportunity to dissect the jobs report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The ritual unfolds every month: The jobs report comes out, and Wall Street panics or exults. Political advocates spin. And economic analysts crowd cable-TV to offer us their insights.
It happens the first Friday of the month at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.
Except this Friday.
The government’s partial shutdown means the September jobs report is being postponed. The workers who produce it aren’t deemed “essential,” which is why they’re among the 800,000 federal employees being furloughed.