White House says some economic data impaired by government shutdown

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The White House said on Wednesday that October jobs and inflation data reports might never be released as a consequence of the government shutdown.

Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a briefing the shutdown impaired federal statistics collection, leaving Federal Reserve policymakers flying blind during a critical economic period.

(Reporting by Gram Slattery and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Chris Reese)