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The Labor Division’s inside watchdog mentioned Wednesday it has opened an investigation into how jobs and inflation knowledge is collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The probe by the division’s Workplace of Inspector Common comes as BLS is underneath stress from the Trump administration, which has pointed to current downward revisions to employment knowledge to argue that the company’s knowledge can’t be trusted.
President Donald Trump fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer in August, accusing her of being motivated by politics hours after her company launched a weak month-to-month jobs report.
The inspector common is a nonpolitical appointee whose workplace is independently staffed and legally insulated from interference by the Labor secretary or different political appouintees. The workplace is at present being led by performing deputy Inspector Common Michael Mikulka, in accordance the Labor Division’s web site.
In a letter despatched Wednesday morning, the watchdog mentioned it “is initiating a assessment of the challenges” that BLS “encounters gathering and reporting carefully watched financial knowledge.”
Learn the total letter right here.
The OIG mentioned it was initiating that probe after BLS introduced a discount in its knowledge assortment for 2 key inflation metrics, the buyer worth index and the producer worth index.
The assessment additionally is available in mild of BLS not too long ago issuing a “massive downward revision of its estimate of latest jobs within the month-to-month Employment Scenario Report,” assistant inspector common for audit Laura Nicolosi wrote.
The Labor Division in a preliminary report Tuesday revised jobs knowledge sharply downward for the yr ending March 2025, posting a drop of 911,000 from preliminary estimates. The revisions have been the biggest on file in additional than 20 years.
Nicolosi wrote Wednesday that the OIG’s “focus will likely be on the challenges and associated mitigating methods for (1) gathering PPI and CPI knowledge, and (2) gathering and reporting, together with revising, month-to-month employment knowledge.”
The letter was addressed to William Wiatrowski, who has served as BLS’ performing commissioner since Trump fired McEntarfer on Aug. 1, hours after BLS issued a weaker-than-expected month-to-month jobs report for July.
The transfer shocked some specialists, who warned that it undermined confidence within the integrity of the monetary statistics which are closely relied upon by buyers and policymakers alike.
However Trump and his supporters defended McEntarfer’s elimination, arguing that BLS’ knowledge had change into more and more unreliable and claiming its actions have been politicized.
They’ve pointed to earlier massive revisions by the company, although Trump has mischaracterized these figures and once they have been launched.
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer mentioned Tuesday that the BLS’ newest downward revision “offers the American individuals much more cause to doubt the integrity of information being revealed.”
“It is crucial for the info to stay correct, neutral, and by no means altered for political achieve,” DeRemer mentioned.
— CNBC’s Greg Iacurci contributed to this report.