Is the job market getting worse? As the shutdown continues, this is what we know

The government shutdown is again making it it hard to answer a critical question: How is the U.S. job market doing?

The impasse in Congress over funding has delayed a closely-watched report on the labor market for the second month in a row.

Without that official jobs tally, the available signals are mixed. This week, a big payroll processing company reported an uptick in October hiring, for example. But a consulting firm that tracks pink slips noted a big surge in layoff notices.

Policymakers typically look to monthly surveys from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the broadest and most accurate snapshot of the job market. But BLS number-crunchers have been furloughed for more than five weeks, so the September and October jobs reports have not been published.

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