As federal agencies reset after a brief shutdown, the government's key labor reports are once again being pushed back—leaving economists, businesses and investors waiting longer for essential insights into the job market.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' release of January's employment data has been delayed from Friday, February 6, to Wednesday, February 11, following a four-day federal shutdown. The inflation report scheduled for that same Wednesday will now be released two days later, on Friday.
Though the interruption was shorter than last fall's 43-day halt, the gap still leaves forecasters and policymakers navigating the economy with limited guidance. Without official federal data, they are again piecing together the labor-market picture from private-sector sources—like travelers relying on crumpled maps after their GPS goes dark.
One of the clearest signals came on Wednesday from ADP, which, together with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, reported that private employers added just 22,000 jobs in January. Pay increased 4.5% year-over-year, according to the firm's National Employment Report. Education and health services led job creation with 74,000 new positions, followed by gains in financial activities (14,000) and construction (9,000).
Meanwhile, professional and business services shed 57,000 jobs, other services lost 13,000, manufacturing dropped by 8,000 and the information sector fell by 5,000. Manufacturing has lost jobs every month since March 2024.
The hiring landscape also varied by company size. Overall, small establishments saw no net change. Those with one to 19 employees gained 30,000 jobs, while those with 20 to 49 workers lost 30,000.
Medium-sized firms added 41,000 job, with 37,000 coming from companies with 50 to 249 employees and 4,000 from those with 250 to 499. Large employers with at least 500 employees saw a net decline of 18,000.
"Job creation took a step back in 2025, with private employers adding 398,000 jobs, down from 771,000 in 2024," ADP Chief Economist Dr. Nela Richardson said in prepared remarks.
"While we've seen a continuous and dramatic slowdown in job creation for the past three years, wage growth has remained stable."
According to The Wall Street Journal, other private data providers such as Revelio Labs, the job site Indeed and the payroll services firm Paychex—offer additional snapshots of the market. Yet none match the breadth of the federal data, which draws on surveys covering more than 600,000 work sites.
Private datasets rely on self-selected samples, typically from users or clients, while Bureau of Labor Statistics data are designed to represent the broader U.S. labor market.
Even so, official data aren't exempt from scrutiny. As Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell noted in December 2025, BLS figures may have overstated employment by as many as 60,000 jobs per month due to revisions. With the revised average showing only 40,000 jobs added per month from April through December, the economy would have actually lost about 20,000 jobs each month during that period.
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