[Analytical Perspectives]
[Special Analyses and Presentations]
[11. Strengthening Federal Statistics]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


 
                  11.  STRENGTHENING FEDERAL STATISTICS

  Our democracy and economy demand that public and private leaders have 
unbiased, relevant, accurate, and timely information on which to base 
their decisions. Data on real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Consumer 
Price Index (CPI), and the trade deficit, for example, are critical 
inputs to monetary, fiscal, trade, and regulatory policy. They also have 
a major impact on government spending, budget projections, and the 
allocation of Federal funds. Economic data, such as measures of price 
change, have as well a significant influence on interest rates and cost-
of-living adjustments that affect every American who runs a business, 
saves for retirement, or mortgages a home. Taken together, statistics 
produced by the Federal Government on demographic, economic, and social 
conditions and trends are essential to inform decisions that are made by 
virtually every organization and household.
  The U.S. Federal statistical system comprises some 70 agencies that 
collect, analyze, and disseminate information for use by governments, 
businesses, researchers, and the public. Approximately half of the 
funding for the statistical system provides resources for ten agencies 
that have statistical activities as their principal mission (see Table 
11-1). The remaining funding is spread among some sixty agencies that 
carry out statistical activities in conjunction with other missions such 
as providing services or enforcing regulations.
  Under the aegis of the congressionally-mandated Interagency Council on 
Statistical Policy (ICSP), the principal statistical agencies are 
extending their collaborative endeavors in order to improve the overall 
performance and efficiency of the Federal statistical system. In May 
1997, the ICSP unveiled FedStats (www.fedstats.gov), a ``one-stop 
shopping'' Internet site for Federal statistics that permits easy access 
via an initial point of entry to the wide array of information available 
to the public from the 70 agencies. FedStats has been enthusiastically 
received both by Web watchers and by more than half a million users of 
Federal statistical information.
  In July 1997, the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family 
Statistics issued America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-
Being, presenting in a single document 25 critical indicators concerning 
children's behavior, social environment, economic security, education, 
and health. The report represents a successful collaboration among the 
various Federal agencies that report regularly on aspects of children's 
lives. Additional new collaborative initiatives are addressing needs to 
improve integration of employer-provided health benefits and other 
nonwage compensation data and to identify statistical data requirements 
stemming from recent changes in welfare and health policy.
  A singularly important initiative to improve the quality and 
efficiency of Federal statistical programs is a legislative proposal 
that would allow the sharing of confidential data among statistical 
agencies under strict safeguards. Passage of this legislation continues 
to be a top priority of the Administration.
  Despite these accomplishments, rapid changes in our economy and 
society, and funding levels that do not enable statistical agencies to 
keep pace with them, increasingly threaten the relevance and accuracy of 
our Nation's key statistics. The growing inability of our statistical 
system to mirror accurately our economy and society will, in turn, 
undermine core government activities, such as the accurate allocation of 
scarce Federal funds. Fortunately, the most serious shortcomings of our 
statistical infrastructure could be substantially mitigated by four 
proposals set forth in the Administration's budget. In particular, these 
initiatives would:
    provide a comprehensive, integrated, and internationally 
          comparable statistical base for analysis as well as reliable 
          and timely information on the impact on the U.S. economy of 
          increasingly integrated world markets (see highlights for the 
          Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of the Census);
     modernize our basic industrial classification to reflect 
          the structural and technological make-up of our economy and 
          facilitate economic analyses that cover the entire North 
          American Free Trade Agreement area (see the NAICS discussions 
          in the highlights for the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the 
          Bureau of the Census);
     improve the timeliness and accuracy of the CPI to permit 
          more rapid revision in future years, to produce alternative 
          measures of the change in the cost of living, to reflect more 
          accurately changes in the quality of goods and services, and 
          to allow more timely introduction of new goods into the CPI 
          (see the CPI discussion in the highlights for the Bureau of 
          Labor Statistics); and
     provide new statutory authority for the limited sharing of 
          confidential statistical information among specific Federal 
          statistical agencies solely for statistical purposes. The 
          proposed changes would permit these statistical agencies to 
          manage information in many important respects as if they were 
          part of a single agency, thereby increasing the accuracy of 
          statistical estimates and the efficiency of Federal data 
          collection.
  The following highlights elaborate on the Administration's proposals 
to strengthen the programs of the principal Federal statistical 
agencies.

[[Page 234]]

  HIGHLIGHTS OF 1999 PROGRAM CHANGES FOR PRINCIPAL STATISTICAL AGENCIES

  Bureau of Economic Analysis: Funding is requested to update and 
improve the data used in estimating GDP and national income and to 
continue moving forward on other key initiatives from BEA's Mid-Decade 
Strategic Plan for improving its economic accounts. Initiatives would 
produce: (1) new and improved measures of output and prices, by 
extending BEA's work on quality adjustments; (2) better measures of 
investment, savings, and wealth, by developing a comprehensive 
accounting for software; and (3) improved measures of international 
transactions, by expanding the coverage of rapidly growing international 
services and financial instruments.
  Bureau of Justice Statistics: Funding is requested to: (1) support 
local law enforcement agencies' increased participation in the 
collection and reporting of hate crime statistics; (2) restore funding 
for the annual collection and reporting of detailed data from State and 
local governments on employment and expenditures for criminal justice 
purposes; and (3) provide for continued collection of police use-of-
force statistics from local law enforcement agencies.
  Bureau of Labor Statistics: Funding is requested to: (1) continue 
revision of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) by releasing the revised 
housing sample with data for January 1999, and completing the revision 
in 2000; (2) initiate improvements in the CPI revision process that 
would make it possible to revise the CPI more rapidly, allow BLS to 
produce alternative measures of change in the cost of living, improve 
the measurement of changes in the quality of goods and services, and 
provide a basis to bring new goods into the CPI on a more timely basis; 
(3) replace the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) with the new 
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) by continuing the 
recoding of each workplace in BLS' establishment list using the new 
classification; and (4) develop monthly national data on the number of 
job vacancies and labor turnover.
  Bureau of the Census: Funding is requested to: (1) undertake final 
preparatory activities for the conduct of the 2000 Census including 
developing a comprehensive address list, establishing the required field 
infrastructure, printing questionnaires, and developing and 
manufacturing hardware and software to produce a more accurate and less 
costly decennial count; (2) review, edit, and disseminate the data 
collected for the 1997 Economic Censuses and the Census of Governments; 
(3) further the development and testing of the Continuous Measurement 
program, which would provide nationally comparable and consistent 
community-based data on an annual basis and permit elimination of the 
decennial census long form in 2010; (4) implement NAICS in current 
economic surveys to complement the work already undertaken for the 1997 
quinquennial economic censuses; (5) improve the quality of construction, 
government, and service sector data used in Gross Domestic Product 
estimates; (6) perform research and support activities related to 
improving the measurement of income and poverty; (7) standardize the 
reporting of international trade data; and (8) begin transition to 
decentralized funding of the decennial revision of all monthly, 
quarterly, and annual household survey samples to conform to the 
anticipated redistribution of population that will be measured in the 
2000 Census.
  Bureau of Transportation Statistics: Funding is requested to: (1) 
maintain the core statistical programs of BTS, including the American 
Travel Survey, the Commodity Flow Survey, and the Transborder Surface 
Freight program; (2) produce and enhance data compilations and analyses 
concerning patterns of passenger travel and goods movements that are 
reported in the congressionally mandated Transportation Statistics 
Annual Report and companion publications; (3) extend efforts to provide 
technical assistance to State and local authorities; (4) initiate data 
collections and analyses related to international transportation; and 
(5) lead the Department of Transportation's development of more relevant 
and timely transportation system performance indicators.
  Economic Research Service: Funding is requested to: (1) prepare 
estimates of the benefits of food safety, (2) support the analytical 
needs of small farmers, niche marketers, and others adversely affected 
by an industrializing agricultural sector; and (3) assess the effects of 
electric utility deregulation on rural communities. The decrease in ERS 
total funding reflects the proposal to reverse the 1998 transfer of 
funds ($18.5 million) for the evaluation of domestic food assistance 
programs from the Food and Nutrition Service.
  Energy Information Administration: Funding is requested to: (1) 
collect and analyze energy efficiency and renewable energy data; (2) 
perform energy end-use consumption surveys; (3) compile integrated 
energy end-use data; (4) model mid-term energy demand; (5) analyze 
greenhouse gas data; and (6) analyze carbon management policies and 
industry voluntary activities in support of the Climate Change 
Technology Initiative.
  National Agricultural Statistics Service: Funding is requested to: (1) 
develop the statistical infrastructure needed to expand the agricultural 
pesticide use surveys to the horticulture/greenhouse industries; (2) lay 
the groundwork for the year 2000 decennial Agricultural Economics and 
Land Ownership Survey, which provides the only comprehensive data on 
agricultural land ownership, financing, and inputs by farm operators and 
landlords for each State; and (3) perform the first extensive census of 
aquaculture to provide consistent national and State level detailed data 
about aquacultural production. The decrease in NASS total funding 
reflects

[[Page 235]]

a reduction in funding for the Census of Agriculture due to the cyclical 
nature of the program.
  National Center for Education Statistics: Funding is requested to: (1) 
follow up on the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey and enhance fast 
response post-secondary and vocational education surveys to collect 
performance indicator data; (2) support periodic data collections for 
the National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey, the Schools and Staffing 
Survey, and the National Household Education Survey; (3) enhance the 
coverage and quality for the kindergarten cohort and the coverage of the 
year 2000 birth cohort in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey; (4) 
institute the State and school district option for the 1999 Third 
International Mathematics and Science Study Replication at grade 8; (5) 
produce a crosscutting special report and analysis of education in the 
year 2000; (6) develop a special financial accounting handbook for 
school system use; (7) perform special fast response statistical surveys 
on critical educational issues; and (8) fund initiatives in the National 
Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) that will enrich coverage of 
private schools and minority students, field test new items for the NAEP 
assessments, support implementation of the new NAEP Annual Assessment 
Schedule, increase support to selected schools to foster NAEP 
participation, develop the new NAEP market basket 2000 prototype, and 
implement the NAEP redesign including new technical requirements.
  National Center for Health Statistics: Funding is requested to 
maintain at 1998 levels support for NCHS' core data systems, including 
the Vital Statistics System, Personal Interview Surveys, Health Care 
Surveys, and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. NCHS 
is currently reexamining the content, sample size, and periodicity of a 
number of its data systems.


 
  Table 11-1.  1997-1999 BUDGET AUTHORITY FOR PRINCIPAL STATISTICAL AGENCIES                   
                             (In millions of dollars)                                            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                      1997 actual    1998 enacted   1999 request
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau of Economic Analysis........................................       40.6            42.3            48.4  
                                                                                                                
Bureau of Justice Statistics.......................................       21.4            21.5            27.0  
                                                                                                                
Bureau of Labor Statistics.........................................      360.8           380.5           398.9  
                                                                                                                
Bureau of the Census...............................................      351.2           693.1         1,187.9  
  Periodic Censuses and Programs...................................      216.2           555.8         1,027.8  
  Salaries and Expenses............................................      135.0           137.3           160.1  
                                                                                                                
Bureau of Transportation Statistics................................       24.7        \1\ 25.0            31.0  
                                                                                                                
Economic Research Service..........................................       53.1        \2\ 71.6            55.8  
                                                                                                                
Energy Information Administration..................................       66.1            66.8            70.5  
                                                                                                                
National Agricultural Statistics Service \3\.......................      100.2           118.0           107.2  
                                                                                                                
National Center for Education Statistics...........................       79.8            91.0           104.0  
  Statistics.......................................................       50.0            59.0            68.0  
  Assessment.......................................................       29.8            32.0            36.0  
                                                                                                                
National Center for Health Statistics..............................       86.0            86.0            86.0  
  PHS Evaluation Funds.............................................       48.4            59.2            86.0  
  Budget Authority.................................................       37.6            26.8     .............
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Annualization of congressionally authorized $12.5 million for first six months of 1998, pending             
  reauthorization of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA).                              
                                                                                                                
\2\ Increase reflects the transfer of $18.5 million for the evaluation of domestic food assistance programs from
  the Food and Nutrition Service.                                                                               
                                                                                                                
\3\ Includes funds for the periodic Census of Agriculture of $17.5, $36.3, and $23.7 (millions) in 1997, 1998,  
  and 1999, respectively.