American federal agency responsible for producing many of the country's official economic data, with an annual budget of $700m. A working paper by Nicholas Bloom and others estimated that preserving trust in "the integrity and quality of official statistics" generates economic benefits of about $25 for every $1 spent on the BLS.
Response rates to BLS surveys have plunged. A decade ago nearly nine in ten Americans approached for the Current Population Survey (administered to about 60,000 households monthly) agreed to fill it out; fewer than seven in ten do so now. The response rate for the Consumer Expenditure Survey has fallen from 68% to 40%.
On August 1st 2025 Donald Trump sacked Erika McEntarfer, the BLS commissioner appointed by Joe Biden, after a steep downward revision to recent jobs numbers. He alleged the revision had been "RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad". In the following week the index of Economic Policy Uncertainty leapt by 50% relative to the week before—even larger than the jumps from Trump's April 2025 trade war or the Iran war. Researchers estimated the firing trimmed American GDP by at least $20bn and employment by 31,000 jobs.
Automobile, n.: A four-wheeled vehicle that runs up hills and down pedestrians.