(Bloomberg) -- Two key Senate Republicans excoriated the US government statistics agency responsible for monthly employment reports, saying recent large-scale revisions to initial figures show its “continued failures” in producing crucial economic data.
Senators Bill Cassidy and Susan Collins — who are in line for key roles next year overseeing the Bureau of Labor Statistics — said the agency’s inability to produce initially reliable numbers is “unacceptable,” according to a letter the two sent to the BLS on Friday.
The two senators asserted “something must change” and hinted in the letter that the BLS should postpone releasing economic data, asking why the agency sticks to its timetable “when it knows those numbers almost always need multiple revisions.”
The US monthly jobs report is among the most watched economic indicators in the world. Issued on the first Friday of the month, it provides financial markets with an early reading of the economy’s strength in the prior month and is the basis for the politically sensitive unemployment rate.
A preliminary annual revision to the jobs data, made in August, suggested job growth in the 12 months through March will be marked down by more than 800,000 — the largest downward revision since 2009 — making waves in financial markets and on Capitol Hill. The final data is due early next year.
The BLS surveys businesses in its sample three times before arriving at a final reading of nonfarm payrolls. The agency, along with its peers in the US and abroad, has struggled in recent years with falling response rates — so the numbers can swing widely as it collects more responses in subsequent readings.
The release of the preliminary revision in August was marred by an embarrassing delay of more than a half hour. During that period, several Wall Street banks were able to get the numbers ahead of competitors, and the general public, by calling the BLS. At the time, the agency attributed the delay to a technical glitch and said the episode prompted steps to beef up data-release protocols. An investigation remains ongoing.
Cassidy — who is line to chair the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that oversees the BLS next year — has been an outspoken critic of recent incidents at the agency.
Collins is in line to chair the Senate Appropriations Committee when the Republican majority takes office in January. The two will have outsized influence on the BLS’s funding, which has been tight for decades and is at risk of further constraint with President-elect Donald Trump pledging to slash federal spending.
The senators noted that the monthly payrolls revisions were more often revised higher than lower during Trump’s first term, while they’ve tended to be marked down in President Joe Biden’s administration.
“Whether BLS needs to implement changes to how it collects data or to the timetable on which it releases the data it collects, it is clear that something must change so that those who make economic decisions based on the data BLS provides are able to do so with a reliable understanding of the actual facts on the ground,” the senators said.
The senators requested answers to their questions by Nov. 28.
A spokesperson for Cassidy’s committee didn’t have a specific answer for how the senators would respond if the agency fails to provide satisfactory answers by their deadline. The BLS didn’t immediately respond to Bloomberg requests for comment.
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--With assistance from Steven T. Dennis.
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