{"id":660,"date":"2026-07-29T22:13:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T22:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=660"},"modified":"2026-07-29T22:13:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T22:13:55","slug":"staffing-cuts-are-leaving-federal-statistical-agencies-stretched-thin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=660","title":{"rendered":"Staffing cuts are leaving federal statistical agencies stretched thin"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Federal statistical agencies, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau,\u00a0are facing deep staffing cuts and minimal hiring,\u00a0raising alarms about their long-term ability to deliver objective datasets that drive policymaking and the economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more AFGE sues over EEOC\u2019s apparent shutdown of class action cases against agencies<\/a><\/p>\n

All 13 principal federal statistical agencies have seen staffing cuts since the start of the Trump administration. Six of them shed at least a third of their headcount, and two of them lost more than two-thirds of their employees.<\/p>\n

The American Statistical Association, , warns that these staffing cuts and persistent leadership vacancies \u201cput the agencies in a weakened and vulnerable position to meet rigorous production schedules,\u201d and \u201ckeep up with the demands of producing relevant, timely, and accurate statistics for decisionmakers and the public.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile hiring has resumed at seven agencies, current recruitment has barely begun to offset earlier losses and does not immediately address the loss of expertise and experience that occurred in last year\u2019s downsizing,\u201d the report states.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Steve Pierson, the director of science policy at American Statistical Association, told Government Executive <\/em>that \u201ceveryone is doing more these days because of these cuts.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe loss of staff is not just the numbers. It\u2019s the expertise, it\u2019s the mentorship,\u201d Pierson said. \u201cYou lose that, and it does affect the long-term productivity, as well as possibly the production of these reports.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some agencies have seen particularly deep staffing cuts. The National Agricultural Statistics Service lost nearly 40% of its staff since 2024, and is expected to see further workforce attrition as part of the Agriculture Department\u2019s sweeping relocation plans. NASS employees had until July 8 to decide whether to accept relocation to St. Louis or one of the agency\u2019s regional offices. Relocated staff are expected to report to their new offices by Sept. 21.<\/p>\n

The Education Department\u2019s National Center for Education Statistics lost\u00a0nearly all its employees last year, as part of the Trump administration\u2019s ongoing plans to dismantle the department.\u00a0NCES shrank from about 100 staff to just four employees last year, but now has about a dozen full-time staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Claire McKay Bowen, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who leads its data governance and privacy team, said the remaining staff at these agencies are spread thin and often juggle work for several positions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFederal statistics are the eggs that go into cake that we like to eat, and the capacity aspect is the fact that we\u2019re not having enough bakers now at this point,\u201d Bowen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, many former federal statistical officials are still out of work following last year\u2019s widespread layoffs and voluntary separation offers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Pulte announces 30% ODNI staff reduction hours before Clayton vote<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThat means that you get a bunch of folks who are highly educated flooding the market,\u201d Bowen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last summer, President Donald Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after the agency produced a monthly jobs report that showed hiring had slowed.\u00a0The incident raised concerns about the long-term independence of federal statistical agencies, but after pushback from Congress and those who rely on BLS data,\u00a0Pierson said the Trump administration\u00a0is unlikely to target the heads of other statistical agencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have full confidence that the products being released by the federal statistical agencies have not been improperly influenced or manipulated by this administration. It\u2019s too hard to do. They don\u2019t seem to have the desire to manipulate the data, and if that would happen, just given the processes, given the commitment of our civil servants, we would learn about it,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Trump administration hasn\u2019t named many permanent leaders to oversee these agencies.\u00a0The Bureau of Justice Statistics hasn\u2019t had a permanent director in three years. The Census Bureau, which is gearing up for the 2030 population count, has been under acting leadership for about a year and a half. About a third of leadership positions at BLS are vacant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bowen said the lack of permanent leadership makes it harder for these agencies to set longer-term goals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody likes uncertainty, at the end of the day. Not knowing who is the leader, or what their priorities are, people are going to be hesitant to commit to making certain changes or proposals,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bowen said that with the proliferation of acting leaders, many federal statistical officials are handling\u00a0multiple roles.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the folks that I\u2019ve talked to across the agencies, a lot of them are wearing three, four, five hats \u2013 which is not great,\u201d she said. \u201cThat person is doing the best they can, but you can imagine that that means their bandwidth is just very split.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

that widespread staffing and spending cuts, along with policy changes under the Trump administration, led to certain public-facing data sets being delayed, suspended or canceled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether these developments prove temporary or mark a longer-term reduction in the nation\u2019s statistical capacity will depend largely on future staffing, funding, leadership appointments, and policy decisions, requiring close attention and strong actions from Congress and the administration,\u201d the 2026 midyear report states.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Inspectors general are conducting fewer oversight reports after 18 months of upheaval<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau have been hard hit by staffing cuts, and experts say replacing lost expertise won’t happen overnight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-workforce"],"yoast_head":"\nStaffing cuts are leaving federal statistical agencies stretched thin - Market Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=660\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Staffing cuts are leaving federal statistical agencies stretched thin - 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