The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its January jobs report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time on Friday, Feb. 1. Here’s what you need to know:
The consensus is for 158,000 jobs to be added to the economy, compared to 312,000 jobs in December; unemployment holding at 3.9 percent; and average hourly earnings to be up 3.2 percent year over year
The 800,000 federal employees who were working without pay, or not working at all, will not be counted as unemployed
Furloughed workers might have identified as “absent” or “not in the labor force,” two categories that do not add to the unemployment rate
Some federal employees found other work
Bottom line: The shutdown might barely show in the jobs report
Click the audio player above to hear the full story.