Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Does the lapse of appropriation for some federal agencies impact BLS data or release dates?

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has received a number of questions about the impact of the recent lapse of appropriation for some federal agencies on our data and release dates.

The Department of Labor, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is funded through September 30, 2019. BLS is operating as usual and plans to follow its announced release schedule. The lapse of appropriation may affect data in some BLS releases, however.

This page will be updated as new information becomes available. BLS will notify data users regarding any other data impacts or delayed releases.

Employment Situation

BLS released the Employment Situation for January 2019 on Friday, February 1. We have more information about how workers affected by the lapse of appropriation were counted in the Employment Situation.

Productivity and Costs

BLS will publish the Productivity and Costs, 4th Quarter, 2018, news release as scheduled on February 6, 2019. If Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis are not available, the BLS productivity release will only have a limited set of data available for the preliminary 4th quarter 2018 estimates. See the table below.

Preliminary 4th quarter 2018 measures that will be available in the Productivity and Costs February 6, 2019, release
Sector Labor
productivity
Output Hours worked Hourly
compensation
Real hourly
compensation
Unit labor costs

Nonfarm business

No No Yes No No No

Business

No No Yes No No No

Manufacturing

Yes Yes Yes No No No

Durable manufacturing

Yes Yes Yes No No No

Nondurable manufacturing

Yes Yes Yes No No No

Revised 3rd quarter 2018 measures will be published in full.

Consumer Price Index

The U.S. Census Bureau collects the CPI Telephone Point of Purchase Survey (TPOPS) data for BLS. (TPOPS is used to collect information about where consumers purchase goods and services.) This data collection activity is funded by BLS and, at this time, is not significantly affected by the lapse of appropriation.

Import and Export Price Indexes

If data collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture are not available, publication of some export price indexes may be suppressed.

Producer Price Index

The PPI uses data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service and Agricultural Marketing Service. Similarly, the PPI uses data from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Marine Fisheries Service. BLS expects that data from other sources will permit the PPI to publish fully if data from these sources are not available. The accuracy and reliability of the affected PPI indexes will not significantly diminish.

American Time Use Survey

The Census Bureau collects the American Time Use Survey data for BLS. This data collection activity is funded by BLS and, at this time, is not significantly affected by the lapse of appropriation.

Consumer Expenditure Survey

The Census Bureau collects the Consumer Expenditure Survey data for BLS. This data collection activity is funded by BLS and, at this time, is not significantly affected by the lapse of appropriation.

Last Modified Date: February 4, 2019