Changes to the Federal Statistical System in December

Modest Reversals for Staffing and Oversight: The National Center for Education Statistics added three new members to its staff directory in December, bringing the total team to seven. The hires follow a September recruitment drive intended to bolster support for the National Assessment on Educational Progress. In addition, the Office of Management and Budget reversed course on defunding the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. The council is delegated in the trust regulation to conduct the audit of the federal statistical agencies or units and their parent agencies for their compliance with the regulation and, specifically, whether the agency or unit “has sufficient resources to carry out the fundamental responsibilities” specified in the Evidence Act. 

Product Cuts or Frequency Reduced Amidst Plans for More Energy Surveys: The Bureau of Labor Statistics is transitioning the State Job Openings and Labor Turnover Report from a monthly to an annual release, and the Energy Information Administration has suspended several reports. EIA Administrator Tristan Abbey also announced plans for up to 10 more surveys, including on mining and data centers, and a modernization of EIA’s energy forecasting model. 

Bureau of Labor Statistics Survey Hits Record Low Response Rate: BLS reported that the Current Population Survey response rate dropped to a series low of 64.0% in November 2025. This falls below the previous record low of 64.9% set in June 2020 and the 12-month average of 68.4%.

As part of the American Statistical Association project assessing and monitoring the health of the federal statistical agencies, the project team has launched a citizen science project. This project aims to help track changes in federal statistical data releases (e.g., granularity, frequency, timeliness, and other characteristics), which could be improvements or deteriorations.





Visit the Citizen Science Statistical Product Monitoring Project
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It is you, the data user community, who are the most knowledgeable and invested, and therefore best positioned to help us track such changes given the number, breadth, and detail of the federal statistical agency products.



We are committed to being as respectful of your time as possible. Beginning later this year, we will send an email query every three to four months asking if you have observed any changes in the statistical agency products you follow most closely. If so, we will ask you to provide us with the details and documentation via a Google form provided with the email query. 

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We also request your feedback on our 2025 work and your input on 2026 priorities. We highly value your engagement and are eager to learn more about your specific interests in our work.



Should you have any follow-up questions, detailed comments, or suggestions on how we can improve our monitoring and reporting, we invite you to schedule an appointment with our team:



  • Steve Pierson: spierson@amstat.org
  • Michelle Crosby: michelle@amstat.org


 

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If you believe the ASA’s work in support of accurate and independent federal statistics is important, please consider supporting it. Besides monitoring and assessing the health of the agencies, we also conduct educational meetings with congressional staff, engage with administration officials, convene key stakeholders, forge consensus, and build durable coalitions.
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