BLS Leans More on Second-Best Option for Filling in CPI Blanks

The Bureau of Labor Statistics expanded its use of a technique to fill in gaps in inflation data it wasn’t able to collect through traditional methods, adding to concerns about the agency’s ability to reliably report on key US economic figures.

The share of imputed prices in the August consumer price index that relied on so-called different-cell imputation rose to 36%, up from 32% a month earlier and the highest in data back to 2019, the BLS said Thursday. In February, it accounted for just 9%.

When the costs of certain items aren’t available in a particular metropolitan area, this ...