Good morning. Accurate, timely data is essential for strong decision-making and business growth. When data quality suffers, organizations risk losing their strategic edge, and recent changes to U.S. statistical agencies have raised red flags among top economists.
“Government workers have important jobs that are critical to providing important services to taxpayers,” Zandi told me. “If jobs are cut and those services aren’t provided or aren’t provided in a timely and competent way, there can be significant negative fallout.”
However, Zandi points to DOGE’s cuts as a key driver of these revisions: Workforce reductions mean payroll data from agencies often arrives late, leading to large, after-the-fact corrections.
“This didn’t matter much when government employment was stable, but now that government jobs are declining, the cuts are being picked up in the revisions,” Zandi said.
The impact extends to the statistical agencies themselves; understaffed teams struggle to process employment data promptly, which in turn causes even bigger subsequent revisions, he said. Investing in reliable data and the people who collect it is a foundation for smart decisions and economic resilience, according to Zandi.
In times of uncertainty, the value of good data cannot be overstated: It is an indispensable compass for leaders.
