Economists, investors, and Federal Reserve policymakers will get a long-awaited look at official data on job growth and unemployment on Tuesday, but the data will likely prove unusually hard to interpret and may not offer much insight into whether the labor market is deteriorating as the year winds down.
The latest data are expected to show that unemployment remained largely stable in November, even as monthly payroll gains diminished over the past two months. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release delayed November employment data, along with some October measures, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.
The November jobs report, which was originally scheduled for publication on Dec. 5, was delayed due to the government shutdown, as were the October numbers. The data released Tuesday will include payroll data for October, but not the unemployment rate because that information, collected via a survey of households, couldn’t be assembled retroactively. The full slate of data for November is expected to be included.