US January employment report will be delayed because of partial government shutdown

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Monday the closely watched employment report for January will not be released on Friday because of a partial shutdown of the federal government.

"The release will be rescheduled upon the resumption of government funding," ?said Emily Liddel, associate commissioner at the BLS, in a statement to Reuters.

The government partially shut down on ?Saturday after Congress failed to approve a deal to keep a wide swath ?of operations, including the Labor Department, funded. Though the ?U.S. Senate passed a ?spending package on Friday, the House of Representatives was out of town.

The House was due on Monday ?to take up legislation, with a final ?vote expected on Tuesday. House Speaker Mike Johnson has expressed optimism that the shutdown would end within days.

Unlike last year's record ?43-day shutdown, which caused an economic data ?blackout, the ?Commerce Department is funded until September 30 and its statistics agencies, the Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census Bureau will continue to release data. ?The two agencies are still catching up on data releases delayed by last year's shutdown.

The current partial shutdown will also delay the BLS' December Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report due on Tuesday. The BLS had caught up on the employment and inflation data releases that were delayed by the previous ?shutdown. ?Economists worried the disruptions could jeopardize the quality of data, considered the gold standard.

Last year's shutdown resulted in no unemployment rate being published ?for October and big chunks of the Consumer Price Index report were missing, injecting volatility in November's reports. The latest shutdown, if it lasts longer than the envisaged few days, could further strain resources at the BLS.

"BLS will work very hard to make sure that quality is preserved, and I think what will happen," said Erica Groshen, a former ?BLS Commissioner. "The staff is already under extreme pressure, because in the fall BLS staffing was down about 25% and we know that 39% of the leadership positions are vacant, and the hiring freeze ?is still in place."

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani and Doina Chiacu; editing by Diane Craft)