White House aide: DC budget battle hurt U.S. labor market in October

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bitter Washington budget battle that partially closed the government for 16 days and took the United States to the brink of a debt default has hurt the labor market this month and will cost the economy vital growth, the White House said on Tuesday. "There is no question that this brinkmanship is going to cost us a couple of tenths (of a percentage point) on our growth rate in the fourth quarter and a decent number of jobs in October," White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jason Furman told CNBC television. The shutdown also delayed the release of last month's jobs report by several weeks. It was published earlier on Tuesday and showed that a weaker-than-expected 148,000 jobs were created last month. (Reporting by Alister Bull; Editing by James Dalgleish)