Concerns rise over quality of BLS, Census Bureau, other data in US

The employment report has a key role in decision-making for the Federal Reserve, businesses and households.

In the event of a partial government shutdown, the US Labour Department will suspend the release of critical economic data.
This has led to rising concerns about the quality of BLS data.
The Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities said US statistical agencies face increasingly overt politicisation by the administration on top of chronic underinvestment, uncertainty and recent and proposed budget cuts.

Data collection and processing activities of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) would halt.

President Donald Trump is discussing with lawmakers a resolution to prevent a shutdown.

This has led to rising concerns about the quality of BLS data.

If prolonged, a shutdown could also disrupt the Social Security Administration’s cost of living adjustment announcement, affecting retirees’ financial planning.

“Federal statistical agencies face increasingly overt politicisation by the Trump Administration on top of chronic underinvestment, uncertainty, and recent and proposed budget cuts, all of which threaten the accuracy and availability of vital federal data and public trust in official statistics,” the Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities said in a note.

“The Trump Administration has taken a variety of actions to stop collecting or restrict access to federal statistical data. Some of these changes are likely attributable to understaffing but others appear to be motivated by politics,” the Centre’s Victoria Hunter Gibney and Cara Brumfield observed.

Preparation for the 2030 census is now at risk, and BLS and Census Bureau are losing expertise and face threats to independence due to brain drain, they added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)