Tomorrow morning’s advance GDP report is likely more accurate than similar reports released a couple years ago. Why is that? This morning the Census Bureau released the advance economic indicators report, which showed that the goods trade deficit had decreased and wholesale inventories had increased in December. We can expect BEA to incorporate these statistics …
Read More How Early GDP Estimates Have Become More Accurate
Are the White House and the Bureau of Labor Statistics headed for a train wreck? The most recent BLS statistics for December showed 7.5 million unemployed persons and an unemployment rate of 4.7 percent. But throughout his campaign, President Trump repeatedly described the official BLS unemployment statistics as “phony numbers,” saying that the “real” unemployment …
Read More Why I’m Concerned About the Independence of U.S. Statistical Agencies
Americans routinely turn to numbers for evaluating the state of the economy and social conditions. In particular, we rely on the accuracy and integrity of official statistics. While U.S. official statistics are not perfect, they are widely considered to be impartial measures that are prepared in a professional and objective manner. The accuracy of the U.S. …
Read More The Integrity of Official Statistics – What’s Needed
When Canadians look for official statistics, there’s one agency, Statistics Canada, that provides basically all of them. In the United States, on the other hand, we have a hodgepodge of agencies—the Bureau of Justice Statistics for data on crime and law enforcement, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics for data on transportation, the National Center for …
Read More Understanding the U.S. Statistical System