Top Trump aide: White House 'could concoct something' on missing unemployment data

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 24, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Kevin Hassett, Director of the National Economic Council, said Thursday that due to the government shutdown, October's federal jobs report may never come out, but he can "concoct something" on it, reports Mediaite.

Data collection for the report was halted during the shutdown, making it difficult or impossible to accurately gather retroactively.

President Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, on August 1, after the release of a weaker-than-expected July jobs report. Trump later nominated E.J. Antoni, a conservative economist whose nomination was withdrawn in September after he praised a Nazi warship.

Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer asked Hassett if there will ever be an October report, saying, "Is this going to happen or is there another way to make that up?”

After explaining the difference between payroll and household surveys used to comprise the jobs report, Hassett replied, "The household survey wasn’t conducted in October, and so we’ll get half the employment report. We’ll get the jobs part but we won’t get the unemployment rate. And that will just be for one month."

Hassett says the likelihood of an October jobs report is slim — unless they get creative.

"But it probably is true we probably will never — we'll maybe be able to concoct something, but we’ll never actually know for sure what the rate was in October," he said.