U.S. Is Trimming Back Its Collection of Consumer Price Data

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is cutting back its collection of data on consumer prices, raising questions about the reliability of federal economic statistics under President Trump.

Every month, a small army of government workers visits stores and other businesses across the country to check prices of eggs, underwear, haircuts, and tens of thousands of other goods and services. The data collected is the basis for the inflation measures that determine cost-of-living increases in union contracts and Social Security benefits and that guide policymakers at the Federal Reserve when they set interest rates, among other applications.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is part of the Labor Department, said on Wednesday that it was reducing its collection of price data “in areas across the country” and that it had stopped gathering data entirely in Buffalo; Lincoln, Neb.; and Provo, Utah. The agency did not give a specific reason for the cuts, but said it “makes reductions when current resources can no longer support the collection effort.”

The agency said the cuts would have “minimal impact” on estimates of the overall inflation rate, though they could “increase the volatility” of more detailed measures, such as price indexes for individual categories or regions.

But economists said the cuts were the latest blow to a statistical system that was already struggling to maintain the quality of its data in the face of tight budgets and declining response rates to government surveys.

Those issues predate the Trump administration. In a major report last year, the American Statistical Association warned that the reliability of economic data and other government statistics was in jeopardy.