What's happened
The Bureau of Labor Statistics faced criticism after a technical issue allowed select Wall Street firms to access revised job data 20 minutes early. The report revealed a significant downward revision in job growth, raising concerns about data handling and transparency at the agency.
Why it matters
What the papers say
According to Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times, the BLS's technical issue allowed some firms to see job data before the public, raising concerns about selective information access. Ariel Zilber from the NY Post highlighted that this was the largest downward revision in 15 years, leading to chaos in the markets. Ben Casselman, also from the New York Times, noted that this incident is part of a troubling pattern of the BLS providing early access to sensitive data, which could undermine confidence in their reports.
How we got here
The BLS was scheduled to release its annual job data revision on August 21, 2024. A technical glitch delayed the public posting, allowing some firms to access the information early, which showed 818,000 fewer jobs created than previously reported.
More on these topics
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics and serves as a principal agency of the U.S.
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Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east.