MNI BRIEF: Fed's Goolsbee-Available Data Show Stable Labor Mkt

Available labor market data compiled by the Chicago Fed point to an unchanged unemployment rate in September at 4.3%, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said Friday, reiterating he is wary of frontloading rate cuts at a time when inflation is rising. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, closed in the federal government shutdown, did not release the September jobs report Friday. The Chicago Fed's Real-Time Unemployment Rate Forecast that combines real-time private sector data with official labor statistics showed 4.34% for September.

"At moments like this, where it's critically important that we're figuring out whether the economy's in a moment of transition, this is what we have, and thus far, it still continues to point to a pretty stable labor market in my view," Goolsbee told CNBC. 

"Everyone on the FOMC has to come to their own determination of what does it mean for the trajectory," he said. "If inflation is transitory, then the employment side of the mandate would be dominant. But you see this uptick in inflation and in particular the services inflation. I am a little wary about frontloading rate cuts and counting on inflation going away." (See MNI INTERVIEW: Fed Right To Remain Cautious On Rate Cuts-Kohn)