Overview

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics began cutting back its CPI price checks in April, reducing the number of outlets and quotes it collects until the hiring freeze lifts.
• Data collection was fully suspended in Lincoln, Nebraska; Provo, Utah; and Buffalo, New York, creating gaps in local inflation measures.
• President Trump’s federal hiring freeze, extended through late July, has prevented the BLS from recruiting and training additional field staff.
• The agency will also stop monitoring wholesale prices in about 350 Producer Price Index categories, further scaling back economic data sources.
• Economists caution that fewer data points may increase sampling error and volatility in both national and subnational inflation indexes.