Experts Fear U.S. Economic Data Could Worsen Amid Staff Cuts

A poll conducted by Reuters on July 11-24 has found that experts in the United States are worried about the quality of official U.S. economic data following budget and staffing cuts to government agencies, as well as a decline in survey participation rates.

Among the 100 experts surveyed, including Nobel laureates and economists, 89 said they were either slightly or very concerned about the quality of official U.S. economic data. Meanwhile, 71 out of 87 polled experts (82 percent) said that they did not think that the U.S. authorities were treating the issue of economic data accuracy with sufficient urgency.

The survey showed how a pressing issue for the bureau is the lack resources. As many as 70 percent of the experts polled (63 out of 90 for this question) said that they do not think U.S. government agencies have adequate resources to maintain collection and releases of high quality economic data. This chart has removed “other/no” responses in order to make comparison across the questions easier.