U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics hiring part-time for CPI data collection

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is hiring price data collectors to collect data for a key measure of inflation that is increasingly relying on a statistical extrapolation method to fill gaps due to staff attrition. The agency has posted job listings for 25 part-time economic assistants across the country to collect price data for the consumer price index (CPI), working in major metropolitan areas such as New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago. These positions are crucial for obtaining price information from local businesses. "If these positions are filled quickly, the proportion of extrapolated prices in the CPI is likely to fall significantly in the coming months, which will significantly reduce the margin of error in current estimates," said Omar Sharif, president of Inflation Insights LLC, an inflation research firm. The BLS said in June that it had begun suspending price collection in three metropolitan areas because it lacked sufficient resources in those areas.