Economists are warning that Thursday’s inflation report could end up being less instructive than usual after the government shutdown hamstrung data collection.
One example: The Labor Department decided to estimate October housing costs as static, likely making overall inflation in the report appear cooler than it really is.
“The November inflation report was like the data-nerd equivalent of the emperor-with-no-clothes story: We didn’t have basically any October data and limited November data,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, told Semafor.
“I don’t look at this and see anything nefarious; I don’t see anything political. … But the actual read, the number, is probably not 100% accurate.”
That didn’t stop the White House from touting the report as proof of “a historic economic boom,” as press secretary Karoline Leavitt put it.
President Donald Trump is slated to visit North Carolina today as his administration seeks to reassure voters concerned about affordability.