By AP Economics Writer Christopher Al Gerber
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Labor Bureau is raising concerns among economists about the quality of inflation numbers, as Trump administration cuts inflation data collected because of hiring freezes and is being closely monitored for the impact of tariffs.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the division that generates the most closely monitored inflation measures, the monthly consumer price index, said Wednesday it was “cutting samples across regions across the country,” and in April it stopped collecting price data for Lincoln, Nebraska and Provo, Utah. He also said it stopped collecting data this month in Buffalo, New York.
In an email sent to economists by BLS, seen by the Associated Press, the agency said in April that it would “temporarily reduce and quote the number of outlets it attempted to collect due to a shortage of staff.” The reduction in data collection will “be held in place until the employment freeze is lifted.”
President Donald Trump freezes federal employment on his first day in office, extending the freeze until late July in April, suggesting that future inflation reports will not be collected much.
The cuts have raised concern among economists that government spending cuts could undermine the federal government’s ability to compile key economic data on employment, prices and the wider economy. BLS also said last month that it would no longer collect wholesale prices in about 350 categories of producer price index.
The cuts also increase over the growing economic uncertainty and the impact of Trump’s drastic tariffs on employment, growth and inflation.
“PPIs reducing hundreds of indexes from production, and CPIs are now built with less data,” said Omair Sharif, chief economist at consulting firm Inflation Insights in an email. “It’s just that concerns us, given that we’re heading towards the teeth of tariff impacts on prices.”
Earlier this year, the Trump administration dissolved several advisory committees in collaboration with BLS and other statistical agencies involving fine-tuning data collection.
The BLS said the reductions “have a minimal impact” on the overall inflation data, but it could “increase the volatility” of the reported prices of certain items.
Alan Detmeister, an economist at investment bank UBS, said the cuts are likely to have little impact on inflation numbers in April. But “If these types of cuts continue, it will reduce the reliability and validity of these statistical agencies,” he said.
Original issue: June 4th, 2025, 3:16pm EDT
