On Friday, the government will release its monthly hiring and unemployment figures for January. Because furloughed government employees will receive back pay, the shutdown is unlikely to affect payrolls but could push the unemployment rate higher.

There’s another important figure from the report to watch: wage growth. The average hourly earnings for workers had grown slowly during the recovery from the financial crisis, but has ticked up in recent months.

That comes with its own complications. Historically when wage growth is strong, inflation picks up. The Fed chairman, Jerome H. Powell, and his two immediate predecessors raised questions about the connection this month, but a big jump in wage growth this year could make investors nervous that it will lead to inflation or push the Fed to raise interest rates.

Investors will keep an eye on two other labor market releases: the monthly Jolts (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) report and the weekly initial jobless claims. The two reports offer indications of job vacancies and layoffs.

Inflation could eat into profits

Data releases: Personal consumption expenditures, Consumer Price Index

There are two main measures of inflation: the Consumer Price Index and the personal consumption expenditures, or P.C.E., price index, which the Fed has indicated is its preferred measure of inflation. After rising above the Fed’s target of 2 percent earlier last year, both have pulled back in recent months.

In December, the Consumer Price Index rose 1.9 percent annually because of lower oil prices. Excluding the volatile food and energy prices, the index climbed 2.2 percent.