The partial government shutdown may leave the Fed without its usual snapshot of the labor market at a critical moment.

The department is preparing for what would amount to a news and data blackout should the government suspend operations.

Federal jobs numbers will not be released if the government shuts down at midnight Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Labor said. It's a much-anticipated report.

If the U.S. government shuts down, jobs and inflation data, which the Federal Reserve relies to make rate decisions, could be delayed.

The partial government shutdown may leave the Fed without its usual snapshot of the labor market at a critical moment.

The data points fill in some gaps on information that usually comes from the Labor Department but are delayed because of the shutdown.

Earlier this month, Jerome Powell stressed how crucial each month is: “We're in a meeting-by-meeting situation, and we’re going to be looking at the data."

The government shutdown delayed the jobs report and may postpone other key economic data. Here is what economists are looking at instead.

Data interruption comes at a particularly uncertain time as policymakers need more data now than less.