A new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reinforces what C2ER and LMI Institute members already know: the U.S. federal statistical system remains indispensable. The problem is that the system as it currently exists is increasingly misaligned with today’s economic realities. We strongly encourage you to read A Federal Statistical System for the Age of Economic Security (Borges, Girishankar, & Reamer, March 2026).
The report suggests that the statistical system we rely on was built for a different era and designed to track national employment, inflation, and growth. Today’s challenges look different. Supply chains. Technological competition. Regional industry dynamics. Economic statecraft. These require more granular, connected, and responsive data. As designed, the system cannot keep pace with this change.
This is not just a federal issue. As data users and stakeholders, it is our issue, too.
The Challenges are Real
The pressures described in the report will feel familiar. Response rates are falling. Budgets have declined in real terms. Eight of thirteen principal statistical agencies have lost at least 16 percent of their purchasing power since 2009, including nearly 19 percent at BLS. Staffing reductions have been severe. Trust in public data has weakened. At the same time, the structures that govern federal statistics make modernization slow, even when the path forward is clear.
The imbalance between value and investment is striking. The report notes that data-intensive industries generated $778 billion in revenue in 2022. That figure has nearly doubled over a decade. Federal investment in the system that underpins that activity has remained largely flat.
The report also reinforces what practitioners know: Federal statistics are foundational to regional economic development. State and local leaders depend on Census, BLS, and BEA data to plan, to allocate resources, and to manage programs tied to hundreds of billions in federal funding. Increasingly, private data plays a growing role, but it cannot replace official statistics. It cannot match their coverage, consistency, or accountability.
Where the Report Points Us
The report outlines priority areas that align directly with the work of C2ER and LMI Institute members. Everything from economic modeling to answering real-time questions from elected leaders or private businesses.
Measuring regional industrialization remains a core gap. For instance, we lack the data structure needed to understand how clusters form and how place-based investments perform over the long term. This is central to effective economic and workforce development strategies.
Workforce capacity within statistical agencies is another pressure point. The system needs new skills and stronger pipelines. This is where LMI leaders have a direct role to play.
The LMI Institute re-imagined itself some 15 years ago as a partnership between labor market information data producers and users. The Institute has been at the forefront of this topic calling for long-overdue user-centered design approaches. We need to better align data products with how they are used in practice. Our members are among the most advanced users of federal data. Our experience should shape what comes next.
Data sharing and interoperability remain persistent challenges. Progress requires alignment across legal frameworks, technical standards, and incentives. State LMI agencies already operate at the center of this ecosystem and are working on solving this issue, but we need more formal federal recognition and funding support for these activities.
What This Means for Our Networks
The report frames federal statistics as a strategic national asset. That framing creates clear expectations. Users of the system need to help shape what comes next.
Our members should not be passive users. You produce, interpret, and apply these data every day. You know where the system works. You know where it falls short. That insight is essential, and it needs to be visible in this policy moment.
The conversation is already underway, and our networks need to show up with evidence and a unified voice. Here is the call to action for C2ER and LMI Institute members:
Document how you use federal data in practice. Be specific. What decisions did it inform? What would have happened without it?
- Identify the gaps that limit your work. Focus on where better data would change outcomes for regions, industries, or workers.
- Share those examples with C2ER and the LMI Institute. We will aggregate and elevate them in federal discussions.
- Engage your own channels. Brief your organization’s intergovernmental affairs staff. Speak directly with Congressional offices when opportunities arise.
- Make the case in practical terms. Tie federal statistics to funding decisions, program design, and measurable economic outcomes.