The government shutdown is delaying another major economic report, leaving policymakers at the Federal Reserve with a cloudier picture even as the economy enters a challenging phase of stubbornly persistent inflation and a sharp slowdown in hiring. The shutdown could make things worse for agencies like the Fed if it continues, because government agencies cannot collect the raw data that are then compiled into the monthly reports on jobs, inflation, and other economic trends.

From Wall Street trading floors to the Federal Reserve to economists sipping coffee in their home offices, the first Friday morning of the month typically brings a quiet hush around 8:30 a.m. eastern, as everyone awaits the Labor Department's monthly jobs report. But this Friday, with the government shut down, no jobs report covering September was released. The interruption in the data has occurred at a particularly uncertain time, when policymakers at the Federal Reserve and Wall Street investors would likely prefer more data on the economy, rather than less.

The American job market, a pillar of U.S. economic strength since the pandemic, is crumbling under the weight of President Donald Trump's erratic economic policies. Uncertain about where things are headed, companies are reluctant to hire, leaving agonized jobseekers unable to find work and worrying the consumers (70% of U.S. economic activity) whose spending has driven impressive growth for the world's biggest economy since the COVID-19 disruptions of 2020. The Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. employers — companies, government agencies and nonprofits — added just 22,000 jobs last month, down from a 79,000 in July and well below the 80,000 that economists had expected. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3% last month, the highest since 2021.

Americans' view of the U.S. economy declined modestly in August as anxiety over a weakening job market grew for the eighth straight month. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index ticked down by1.3 points to 97.4 in August, down from July's 98.7, but in the same narrow range of the past three months. A measure of Americans' short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market fell by 1.2 points to 74.8, remaining significantly below 80, the marker that can signal a recession ahead. Consumers' assessments of their current economic situation also fell modestly, to 131.2 in August from 132.8 in July.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday opened the door ever so slightly to lowering a key interest rate in the coming months but gave no hint on the timing of a move and suggested the central bank will proceed cautiously as it continues to evaluate the impact of tariffs and other policies on the economy. In a high-profile speech closely watched at the White House and on Wall Street, Powell said that there are risks of both rising unemployment and stubbornly higher inflation. Yet he suggested that with hiring sluggish, the job market could weaken further.

U.S. hiring is slowing sharply as President Donald Trump's erratic and radical trade policies paralyze businesses and raise doubts about the outlook for the world's largest economy. The Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. employers added just 73,000 jobs last month, well short of the 115,000 forecasters had expected. Worse, revisions shaved a stunning 258,000 jobs off May and June payrolls. And the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%. Scott Anderson, the chief U.S. economist at BMO Capital Markets, said that a "notable deterioration in U.S. labor market conditions appears to be underway."

President Donald Trump on Friday had his team remove the head of the agency that produces the monthly jobs figures, after a weak report showed hiring slowed and was much weaker in April and May than previously reported. Trump in a post on his social media platform alleged that the figures were manipulated for political reasons and said that Erika McEntarfer, the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, should be fired.

The U.S. job market delivered another upside surprise last month, churning out a better-than-expected 147,000 jobs. The unemployment rate ticked down unexpectedly, too. But the headline numbers masked some weaknesses as the U.S. economy contends with fallout from President Donald Trump's economic policies, especially his sweeping import taxes and the erratic way he rolls them out. Here are five key takeaways from the jobs report the Labor Department released on Thursday.

Young people graduating from college this spring and summer are facing one of the toughest job markets in more than a decade. The unemployment rate for degree holders ages 22 to 27 has reached its highest level in a dozen years, excluding the coronavirus pandemic. Joblessness among that group is higher than the overall unemployment rate, and the gap is larger than it's been in more than three decades. That worries many economists as well as officials at the Federal Reserve because it could be an early sign of trouble for the economy. It suggests businesses are holding off on hiring new workers because of rampant uncertainty stemming from the Trump administration's tariff increases