U.S. Delays Changes to Economic-Data Releases Beyond Next Week

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Department of Labor again postponed a deadline for removing computers from the secure room where journalists get pre-release access to major economic reports, saying it will consider input on the issue while working on possible changes.

The delay, a second one in less than a month, followed concerns raised by a coalition of media organizations that the department’s proposal would limit the wide distribution of key economic data to the general public.

“We have decided that the DOL, the press and the public at large will be best served by delaying any changes to the lock-up policy beyond March 9, 2020,” Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner William Beach said in a letter to news media on Wednesday. The change was originally scheduled for March 1 and subsequently moved to no sooner than March 9.

The Labor Department said Jan. 16 it would ban computers from the room where journalists receive advance access to major economic reports such as employment and inflation figures, in an effort to ensure a level playing field.

The latest decision means there will be no imminent changes to the “lockups” hosted by the Labor Department in Washington for major reports lasting 30 to 60 minutes. Journalists receive the data in a secure room, write stories on computers disconnected from the Internet, and transmit them when Labor restores the connections at release time. Other electronic devices such as smart phones are already prohibited.

Attorneys for the coalition of media organizations, which includes Bloomberg News, the Associated Press, Dow Jones & Co., Market News and Reuters, wrote Feb. 4 to Beach that banning computers would merely delay news organizations from filing their stories. That would give an edge to sophisticated traders who could scrape government websites, find the relevant numbers in fractions of a second and execute trades before the data are shared with the public, according to the letter.

Conversations with stakeholders over the last week have been “highly informative and useful,” Beach said in the letter Wednesday. The department will continue to hear input while it works on changes to the lockup that “enable us to best meet our goals of providing the public with equitable and timely access to data while ensuring the highest levels of security,” he wrote.

The department said it will give at least 14 days’ notice before implementing any changes.

To contact the reporter on this story: Steve Matthews in Atlanta at smatthews@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Scott Lanman

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