BLS Delays 2024 Consumer Expenditures Data With No Explanation

(Bloomberg) — The Bureau of Labor Statistics postponed a release of an annual report on consumer expenditures, adding to questions about the agency’s operations following President Donald Trump’s firing of its chief.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The announcement, posted late Friday on the BLS website, didn’t provide any explanation for the change.

“We will update users when more information is available,” the announcement said.

Erika McEntarfer was removed by Trump as commissioner of the BLS last month after her agency reported weak jobs growth in July and substantial downward revisions to the prior two months.

The move has raised questions about the reliability of key US economic data and potential politicization of what had been a rigorously nonpartisan agency.

Since McEntarfer’s dismissal, the BLS has revised jobs data further, prompting more criticism from the White House, which called the preliminary benchmark revisions released Sept. 9 “another blunder in the lengthy history of inaccuracies and incompetence at BLS.”

Economists and statisticians say that monthly payrolls revisions are routine, because the BLS continues to collect additional information from businesses that take longer to respond to the survey. Revisions ultimately make the data more accurate.

The agency has long struggled with tight budgets and staffing constraints — both of which predate Trump, but have grown more acute in his second term.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.