WASHINGTON – The number of Americans on jobless benefits surged between mid-September and mid-October, government data showed on Tuesday, suggesting an elevated unemployment rate in October as an uncertain economic environment discourages hiring. 

The Labor Department only published the so-called continuing claims data for the weeks ending Oct. 11 and 18. The government would have surveyed businesses and households for October’s employment report during the week ending Oct.18.

A Labor Department spokesperson said “a technical issue caused the early posting of partial data,” adding “this is being corrected and the complete series will be available by close of business on Nov. 20, 2025,” a Labor Department spokesperson said in response to a query from Reuters.

No official weekly claims data had been published since late September because of the recently ended 43-day shutdown of the government.

Separately, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said it would publish September’s producer price report next Tuesday and the import and export price data on Dec. 3. The White House has warned the unemployment rate for October will likely not be published after the longest shutdown in history prevented the collection of data from households.

The number of people receiving unemployment benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, increased 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.957 million during the week ended October 18, the data showed. Continuing claims shot up from the 1.916 million level in the week ended September 13.

The substantial increase in continuing claims between the September and October survey weeks would suggest a high unemployment rate in October, and is consistent with lethargic hiring. A report from ADP showed private employers shed an average of 2,500 jobs a week during the four weeks ending November 1.

The BLS will publish the delayed September employment report on Thursday. The unemployment rate was near a four-year high of 4.3% in August. First-time applications for benefits were, however, unchanged between the September and October nonfarm payrolls survey period, which some economists welcomed as a sign that the labor market was not deteriorating.

“That means there is no confirmation in this report of widely circulating theories that layoffs stepped up during the government shutdown,” said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. 

“This should be reassuring to markets, and it should reduce expectations for a Fed rate cut in December.”

Federal Reserve officials have signaled a reluctance to lower rates again next month.