This page addresses the effects of the 2025 federal government shutdown on the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of U.S. households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The CPS provides a wide range of information about employment and unemployment.
Federal government agencies were shut down or operating at reduced staffing levels during a lapse in appropriations from October 1, 2025, through November 12, 2025. All CPS operations, including data collection, were suspended during that time period.
We will update this page as more information becomes available. We are working to fully assess the situation and determine how to address the impact on CPS procedures and products.
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1. Were September 2025 data affected?
No. Collection of CPS data for September 2025 had been completed in accordance with our normal schedule prior to the federal government shutdown. Publication of September data was delayed by more than 6 weeks (from October 3 to November 20) because of the shutdown. (See the September 2025 Employment Situation news release.)
2. Were October 2025 data affected?
Yes. There are no CPS estimates for October 2025. CPS data were not collected for October 2025 due to the lapse in appropriations and were not collected retroactively. All CPS operations were suspended during the federal government shutdown, which began before and continued beyond the scheduled collection period for October data.
BLS did not issue an October 2025 Employment Situation news release.
3. When was the November 2025 reference period?
The CPS reference week was November 9–15, 2025. The reference week usually is the 7-day calendar week (Sunday–Saturday) that includes the 12th of the month.
4. What was the impact on November data collection?
As announced, the November 2025 collection period was extended. Data collection typically begins on the Sunday immediately following the reference week and usually lasts 10 days.
The absence of October data increased the burden on collecting data in November. To allow adequate time for the Census Bureau staff to collect the November data and account for the limited availability of respondents around the Thanksgiving holiday, the collection period was extended through November 30.
Collection began on Monday, November 17, one day later than in a typical collection cycle, and continued through Sunday, November 30. No interviews were conducted on Thanksgiving Day (November 27).
5. What happened to households that were not contacted in October?
The CPS is a panel survey in which households are in the sample for 4 consecutive months, out of the sample for 8 months, back in the sample for 4 consecutive months, and then retired from the sample. A new panel of households is introduced into the sample each month, just as another panel is retired. Each panel represents about one-eighth of the monthly sample and is assigned a number that indicates where it is in the survey cycle. For example, households in the sample for the first month are referred to as MIS-1 (month-in-sample 1) and those returning after their 8-month break are referred to as MIS-5.
CPS continued sample rotation in November as originally scheduled, even though there were no households contacted in October. That is, the MIS-1 households in October 2025 became the MIS-2 households in November, the MIS-2 households in October became the MIS-3 households in November, and so forth. The MIS-4 households in October rotated out of the sample and will be contacted in 8 months. The MIS-8 households in October were retired out of the sample as planned and were not contacted in November.
Because of this, one-fourth of the November sample households were participating in the CPS survey for the first time (both the MIS-1 and MIS-2 panels), amounting to twice as many new households as in a typical month. Additionally, one-fourth of the November sample households were returning from a long break (MIS-5 and MIS-6 panels).
The larger number of first interviews and returning interviews in November 2025 added to the collection burden. Generally, households entering the sample for their first month are interviewed through a personal visit, and the interview is longer because demographic characteristics are collected for all household members. (Interviews other than the first one are often collected by telephone.) Households in their fifth month, which are collected after the 8-month break, require some additional questions to update demographic and other details. Interviews for other months may be shorter in length.
6. What statistical weighting changes were made in November 2025?
CPS labor force estimates are derived using a composite estimator that takes advantage of the 75 percent overlap in the CPS sample from month-to-month. The use of composite estimation helps improve the accuracy of the labor force estimates by reducing the standard errors associated with month-to-month changes. In the CPS, composite estimation relies on data from the previous month as an input in developing statistical weights for the current month’s data.
Specifically, CPS uses the AK form of composite estimation which includes a difference term that accounts for the change in labor force estimates within overlapping panels from one month to the next. Statistical weights for November 2025 CPS data were generated following the usual AK composite estimation process, except that the difference term was modified to reflect the 2-month change in overlapping panel estimates from September to November because no October data were collected. November 2025 CPS labor force estimates will have slightly higher variances than usual because the difference term reflects that only 50 percent of the September and November samples overlap rather than the typical 75 percent overlap in the CPS sample from month-to-month.
This weighting change for the November 2025 estimates will not be needed for the December estimates, which will return to the usual composite weighting methodology. The impact on standard errors will get progressively smaller over the next several months before becoming negligible.
For more information about composite estimation see Chapter 2-3 of CPS Technical Paper 77. For more technical information about this November 2025 change in statistical weighting, see Current Population Survey Composite Estimation, November 2025.
7. What is the impact of the statistical weighting changes made in November 2025?
Compared with usual monthly labor force estimates from CPS, the November 2025 estimates have slightly higher variances due to a change in how the November statistical weights were produced. (See item 6 above.) For example, because of the weighting methodology change, the standard error for the national unemployment rate is larger than usual by a factor of 1.06. The slight increases in standard errors may persist for a few months after November 2025. For more technical information about this November 2025 change in statistical weighting, see Current Population Survey Composite Estimation, November 2025.
8. How will the missing October 2025 data be represented in BLS products?
Missing data for October 2025 will appear differently in different CPS products.
A dash will be used to indicate missing October 2025 data in CPS tables, including the household survey “A” tables associated with the Employment Situation news release.
For the online Labor Force Statistics (LN) database, the appearance of missing data is determined by the format of the output.
For html displays, missing data for October 2025 will appear as -(9) or - (9), where the dash indicates missing data and the text of footnote 9 reads “Data unavailable due to the 2025 lapse in appropriations.” In XLSX displays, the missing data are represented as blank cells with the footnote: “* Data unavailable due to the 2025 lapse in appropriations.” CSV and text files will show dashes with no footnote.
In the BLS Public Data API, users will see a dash to represent the missing data value. Both net changes and percent will not be visible. Footnote text “Data unavailable due to the 2025 lapse in appropriations” will be included.
There is no public use microdata file for October 2025.
9. Was the seasonal adjustment methodology changed in November?
No. The seasonal adjustment methodology for the CPS did not change. The methodology can accommodate missing values in a time series and can compute seasonally adjusted estimates even in the absence of a month of data.
Last modified date: December 15, 2025
United States Department of Labor