The jobs report abhors a vacuum. A government shutdown prevented the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday from issuing its monthly report on job creation, so the business press told us what the report would reveal if there were one. “U.S. Job Growth Is Slowing Even Without Government Data to Show It,” said Bloomberg. “Shutdown Delays Jobs Report,” said The Washington Post, “Obscuring Potential Economic Problems.”

We can guess that the BLS report, if there were a BLS report, would be bad, because the payrolls processor ADP reported this week that the private sector shed 32,000 jobs in September. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg estimated that 53,000 jobs were added last month, which is still pretty meager. The workforce analytics company Revelio Labs put the gain slightly higher, at 60,000 jobs. The “outplacement” consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas—these are the folks who help your boss fire you—reported that hiring was weaker in September than at any time since 2009. As........

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