Overview

• In April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics stopped collecting consumer price data in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Provo, Utah, and this month halted surveys in Buffalo, New York.
• President Trump extended the federal hiring freeze through late July, delaying the rehiring and training needed to restore full CPI sampling.
• The BLS also trimmed about 350 wholesale price categories from its Producer Price Index in the face of broader staffing shortfalls.
• While the department asserts that overall inflation readings remain largely unaffected, it warns that smaller sample sizes may fuel volatility in specific price measures.
• Economists warn that persistent cutbacks could undermine confidence in government statistics and complicate policy decisions by the Federal Reserve and other stakeholders.