The Nation - News from Sept. 7, 1989

The White House Office of Management and Budget was blamed for the inability of government statisticians to track significant changes in the economy and their effect on people and businesses, even while spending some $2 billion this year trying. While the skills of workers are increasingly recognized as key to economic growth and improving the nation’s competitiveness, the government spends nearly seven times more collecting data on agriculture than education, said the congressional Office of Technology Assessment. The report cited cuts in the budgets of most agencies for collecting and analyzing data during the last eight years and a resistance by OMB officials to allow new surveys sought by statisticians.