Statistics and politics are a dangerous mix

After staffing shortages at the Bureau of Labor Statistics reportedly affected the agency's ability to collect data for the Consumer Price Index last month, a handful of Democratic senators wrote to the Department of Labor demanding to know how it affected the agency's statistics.

- KATHRYN A EDWARDS Bloomberg

HOW MUCH LONGER can we trust government statistics?

Earlier this year, the government made the radical move to dissolve several external expert advisory committees that served the BLS and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Meanwhile, across industries as diverse as medicine, insurance, and education, professionals are dealing with the outright disappearance of data from government websites.

But to answer the question: We can trust the statistics at least until the "Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service" regulation, proposed by the Office of Personnel Management in April, goes into effect. After that, all bets are off.

The gaps in the CPI data and the dissolution of advisory committees illustrate the two threats facing government data: inadequate funding and political interference.

The former has been cooking for a while. The BLS's budget is down 20% in real terms since 2010, and President Donald Trump's 2026 budget proposes an additional 8% cut. Surveys aren't free to run or maintain, and they certainly aren't free to improve.