Good morning. Accurate and timely data is crucial for strong decision-making and business growth. When data quality is affected, organizations have the potential to lose their strategic advantage, and recent changes to U.S. statistical agencies have added red flags to top economists.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) may have completed most of its cost-cutting agenda, but still feels its ripple effect. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, raises deeper risks stemming from a reduction in the workforce of layoffs: Cutting down work in federal statistical agencies is already eroding the quality of government data –Signs of far-reaching consequences for public services.
“The important work of government workers is crucial to providing important services to taxpayers,” Zandi told me. “If there are no layoffs, no provision or provision of these services, or not timely and competently, there can be significant negative impacts.”
Regarding data quality, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report released last week caused a rigorous scrutiny. President Trump on August 1 Command shooting BLS Specialist Erika Mcentarfer
According to BLS Employment Report Only 73,000 new jobs were shown, while the work proceeds from May and June were heavily revised to a total of 258,000. This has lowered the average monthly wage growth rate in the three months to just 35,000, compared with 123,000 in the same period last year.
However, Zandi noted that Doge’s cuts were a key driver of these revisions: a reduction in labor means wage data from agencies is often late, resulting in large, post-event corrections.
“When government jobs are stable, it doesn’t matter, but now government jobs are declining and the revised cuts are being accepted,” Zandi said.
The impact extends to the statistical agency itself; he said the understaffed team worked to process employment data quickly, leading to larger subsequent revisions. Zandi said investing in reliable data and the people who collect data is the basis for intelligent decision-making and economic resilience.
In times of uncertainty, the value of good data cannot be exaggerated: it is an essential compass for leaders.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Ranking list
Vaibhav Agarwal Promoted to CFO RingCentral, Inc. (NYSE:RNG), an AI-driven service communications provider, effective immediately. Agarwal, who has worked at RingCentral since 2016, will replace Abhey Lamba, who will continue as executive consultant by the end of the year. Agarwal serves as deputy CFO, chief transformation officer and chief accounting officer for nine-year terms.
Jennifer Fall Jung Appointed as Chief Financial Officer and Secretary Athlete Warehouse Holding Company (NASDAQ: SPWH), starting from August 18. FallJung will take over as Jeff White, who will take on a consulting role to assist in the transition to September 9. FallJung has over 25 years of experience and previously served as Duckhorn Portfolio, Inc. and CFO EVP and CFO. Prior to taking the position, he was at Gap, Inc. Has been in various roles, including Old Navy Global Store and Online CFO and SVP.
event
Digital high-skills are no longer only available to tech teams. “We are all technicians now: digital skills for the future,” McKinsey’s reportresearch how collectively improving technical skills can make companies more competitive.
“Now is better than ever for an organization, and all employees need to be technicians,” McKinsey said. This includes executives, who must become more tech-savvy as business leaders become increasingly responsible for delivering products that support technology. Doing so requires a broader and stronger technical foundation across the organization.
McKinsey outlines new ways to improve employees’ technical skills to improve productivity and performance and maintain top talent.
More in-depth
“How Aravind Srinivas Turns Confused AI into $18 billion Google Killer” is one wealth Functional Articles Jeremy Kahn.
Kahn wrote: “Google’s share of search traffic fell below 90% by the end of 2024, and it dropped below that threshold for the first time in 15 years, according to StatCounter. Although Chatgpt’s threat is The main driving force of these flow changesMany of the AI search features recently launched by Google and OpenAI have high confusion rates.
“Now, Google may have to dance again, confusing its tune again. The startup has just launched an AI-native web browser called Comet that can represent The biggest shift in how we interact with the internet Because Netscape widely promoted the graphical web browser in the mid-1990s. ”
Heard
Our bullish view is that investors are still not fully appreciated the tide growth wave of $2 trillion in spending from enterprises and AI technologies and use cases around AI technologies and use cases. ”
– Wedbush Securities technical analysts wrote in an industry note Tuesday.
