Federal Reserve officials, who are unable to receive U.S. economic statistics due to the continuing government shutdown, recently lost access to a separate measure of employment data from ADP

The Federal Reserve still has multiple ways to monitor the labor market despite losing access to key data from ADP during the government shutdown.

State-level unemployment claims and other private data sources can still provide valuable insights into employment conditions.

The shutdown has halted the release of the government’s monthly employment report — the main gauge the Fed uses to assess labor-market health. Policymakers had expected to rely more heavily on ADP’s payroll data to fill the gap, but the central bank lost access to that information shortly before the shutdown.

The timing of this disruption is particularly sensitive for monetary policy. The Fed lowered interest rates by a quarter percentage point in September, and markets widely anticipate another reduction when officials meet on October 28–29.

ADP reportedly ended its data-sharing agreement with the Fed soon after Governor Christopher Waller gave a speech in late August referencing the central bank’s use of its employment figures. In that address, Waller noted that ADP’s preliminary numbers showed job growth softening before the company’s public release — a revelation that may have displeased ADP, even though the Fed’s reliance on such data had long been public.

ADP did not respond to requests for comment, and the Federal Reserve declined to comment.

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