Inflation data unlikely to be released next month, White House says

(NewsNation) — The White House says there likely won't be an inflation report released next month due to the ongoing government shutdown.

The funding lapse is preventing surveyors from deploying to the field, which is "depriving us of critical data," the White House wrote on X. Officials said it would mark the "first time in history" that the information isn't released, warning the economic fallout "could be devastating."

September's inflation report was published nine days behind schedule on Friday, despite the shutdown, but that was an exception because the data was needed to calculate the Social Security cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA).

Friday's release showed consumer prices rose 3% in September from a year earlier — the fastest annual pace since January but slightly below the 3.1%