By Lucia Mutikani
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The leadership of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics was responsible for a series of missteps this year that have put the agency under scrutiny, a report said on Tuesday, noting that shortcomings included being inadequately targeted on releasing economic data, communicating with users and providing adequate training.
But the report from a team of experts made up of government and private sector members said none of the incidents were related to the quality or accuracy of the agency’s core data work.
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No dishonest or nefarious underlying motives were found, the report said. Acting Labor Minister Julie Su ordered an investigation after three incidents, including the early release of part of the consumer price index for April.
“I want to emphasize that in their discussions with me, the team emphasized that, overall, their investigation revealed a truly outstanding organization with a highly capable staff, deeply committed to their mission and their agency,” BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer said to reporters.
“My initial hope and expectation is that you will see a seamless data release process. We have already taken a number of steps to further mitigate the risks.”
The BLS compiles economic reports, such as the closely watched monthly employment report and consumer price data.
In May, the BLS reported that a subset of files was accidentally loaded onto its website about 30 minutes before the scheduled 8:30 a.m. ET release for April’s CPI and real earnings data. McEntarfer said there was no noticeable movement in the US Treasury market on the day some of the CPI data was released early.
Months earlier, it was reported that a BLS economist had shared secret technical calculations underlying some of the CPI series data with private sector economists called superusers.
“It was a quirkily collected group of emails from people who had asked him questions that he put together against the policies and procedures that BLS outlined, so yes, it was limited to one person and stopped the moment attention was drawn at the agency,” said McEntarfer.
In August, the release of the preliminary annual benchmark revision for the nonfarm payroll report was delayed more than 30 minutes after its scheduled release time of 10 a.m., but it still made its way to social media platforms before the agency published it.
The study found that the agency’s technology and software modernization was hampered by underfunding and a lack of multi-year funding to ensure its processes and systems kept pace with technological advances.
USE OF CONTRACTORS
The panel of researchers recommended, among other things, that the BLS reimagine enterprise training for frontline personnel, communicate earlier and more frequently with users about upcoming revisions to research methodologies in a manner appropriate for both expert and more general users, and revise contingency planning to reduce the risk of early release.
“BLS management has mandated accountability at the supervisory and manager levels, and added standards for those two levels to performance management plans,” said Jonathan Schwabish, member of the committee that conducted the investigation into BLS procedures and practices.
Schwabish, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, also said the BLS had removed contractors from critical roles and limited those positions to federal employees.
“So prior to these incidents, certain releases had input or assistance from federal contractors, and therefore, following these incidents, BLS removed the contractors from those roles.”
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Paul Simao)
