US government shutdown plunges the country into a statistical blackout

“Due to a lapse in appropriations, this website is not being updated” is the message on the page of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, which was due to publish the economic growth data for the third quarter of the year on October 30. The agency, which comes under the Department of Commerce, has been inactive due to the federal government shutdown that has now lasted 31 days. This partial closure of a part of the public administration is the first that the U.S. has experienced in seven years and is on track to become the longest — the record so far is the 34-day shutdown that occurred in the winter of 2018-2019, during Donald Trump’s first term.

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