The January 2026 “Employment Situation” report will not be released on February 6 as scheduled and will only be rescheduled after the U.S. Congress passes a budget and the government resumes operations.
On February 2, the U.S. Department of Labor confirmed that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will not publish the January 2026 jobs report due to a partial federal government shutdown.
According to a Washington-based correspondent citing Emily Liddel, Deputy Commissioner of the BLS, the January 2026 “Employment Situation” report will not be released on February 6 as planned and will only be rescheduled once Congress approves a budget and the government reopens.
The decision comes as the BLS is still in the process of recovering from last year’s record 43-day government shutdown, which extended into early November. During that period, many regularly scheduled reports were forced to be delayed and have only been gradually addressed in recent months.
In addition to the employment report, the BLS is responsible for publishing a range of other key economic data, including the consumer price index (CPI), import and export figures, as well as statistics related to the labor market and consumer living conditions.
It remains unclear whether the U.S. Department of Commerce will also be required to delay its reports due to the ongoing budget impasse in Washington.
The postponement of the jobs report comes during a peak week in the economic data release calendar, which is typically seen as culminating in the nonfarm payrolls report—a key indicator of the health of the U.S. labor market.
The report includes the number of new jobs reported by businesses, along with a household survey used to determine the unemployment rate.
Before the delay, markets had expected the January 2026 report to show that the world’s largest economy added around 55,000 new jobs, while the unemployment rate was seen holding steady at 4.4%.
In addition, the BLS had been scheduled to release the results of its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) later this week, though that plan is now at risk of being postponed as well.
The federal government officially entered another partial shutdown on January 31 after the U.S. Congress failed to reach a budget agreement ahead of the deadline.
One of the main sticking points is funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), amid heightened tensions over measures to curb illegal immigration.
Over the weekend, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana expressed confidence that the current impasse could be resolved soon, possibly as early as February 2.
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