Economic Report Distortions. What Distortions?

Aug 13, 2025

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On today’s show we are looking at the integrity of economic data. This has been making headlines with the President firing the head of the bureau of labor and statistics and installing a longtime critic of the BLS to head the agency.

The BLS has received a lot of questions and criticism for their data collection methods.

The world seems up in arms that the President is going to interfere with how economic data is collected and reported. On today’s show we are going to take a walk through history to look at how economic data and employment data is collected and reported and the numerous changes that have taken place under various administrations since the 1940’s.

The BLS and the BEA claim to have no political affiliation and therefore they are independent from the administration. Let’s look and see at what history tells us, and maybe you will agree with that sentiment, and maybe you won’t.

The collection and dissemination of these statistics are primarily the responsibility of two independent federal agencies: the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The BLS, which was first established in 1884, is responsible for producing data on employment, prices, and productivity, while the BEA's mission is to provide a comprehensive picture of the U.S. economy through its national accounts, including Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

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