“Federal government employees who are working, but who will not be paid until funding is available, are included in employment counts,” Bureau of Labor Statistics wrote in a fact sheet on its website. “Furloughed federal employees who were not working during the reference period, but who will be paid once funding is available, are also included in employment counts.“ | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images government shutdown Furloughed workers will still be counted as 'employed' in January jobs report

Despite not working or getting paid for the past month, federal employees furloughed by the government won’t be counted as unemployed in the January jobs report next week, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Federal government employees who are working, but who will not be paid until funding is available, are included in employment counts,” BLS wrote in a fact sheet on its website. “Furloughed federal employees who were not working during the reference period, but who will be paid once funding is available, are also included in employment counts.“


Beyond that, the government says it will count federal contractors who don’t receive back pay as unemployed. There are no concrete numbers on how many contracted workers have been furloughed, but it’s expected to run in the tens of thousands. Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) introduced legislation last week to give contractors some back pay, but it‘s unclear whether it will pass.

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Over the past few days, some economists expressed worry that the jobs numbers would be affected due to a lapse in funding for the Census Bureau’s household survey, from which BLS draws its employment data. BLS, in the fact sheet, said the data would not be compromised.

“This data collection activity is mostly funded by BLS and, at this time, is not affected by the lapse of appropriation,” BLS wrote. “Therefore, data for January 2019 will be collected as scheduled.“

