BLS Offers $25 an Hour to Be a Part-Time CPI Price Collector

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is offering $25 per hour to hire part-time price collectors for the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a crucial inflation metric. This move comes as the BLS faces challenges in maintaining its staff, leading to an increased reliance on statistical methods to compensate for missing data. The CPI is a widely-watched indicator that measures the changes in the prices of consumer goods and services. The BLS is responsible for collecting this data, which is used to track the overall cost of living and inform policy decisions. However, the pandemic has disrupted the BLS's traditional data collection methods, forcing the agency to rely more on statistical modeling to fill in the gaps. By offering competitive pay, the BLS hopes to attract new price collectors and improve the accuracy of the CPI. This is particularly important as inflation remains a top concern for policymakers and the public, and accurate data is crucial for making informed decisions.