Update: June 18, 2014 As a result of further discussions, the BLS will continue to produce the International Price Program (IPP) export price indexes through the end of FY 2015. Additional information and updates will be provided as more is known.

Update: April 9, 2014 Subsequent to the original announcement below, discussions have been initiated to explore alternative Federal sources of funding to continue producing and publishing the International Price Program (IPP) export price indexes. The BLS will continue to produce and publish these indexes through the first quarter of FY 2015. Once the discussions to explore alternative funding sources are concluded, an announcement will be made concerning how the necessary data will be produced to avoid any disruption to the calculation of the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

On Friday, January 17, 2014, President Obama signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014. The Act provides $592.2 million in funding to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for the fiscal year (FY) 2014 that began October 1, 2013. This funding level is $21.6 million below the FY 2014 President's Budget. In order to achieve the necessary savings for this funding level and protect core programs, the BLS is taking the steps listed below:

Curtail the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). The QCEW program provides national, State, metropolitan statistical area, and county data on monthly employment and quarterly total wages and the number of establishments, by 6-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and by size of establishment. The BLS will achieve savings largely by reducing the scope and frequency of collection for select units in the QCEW survey that is used to validate and update the NAICS code of business establishments. This will result in a small degradation in the quality of QCEW data and make the QCEW slightly less accurate as a sampling frame. Curtail the International Price Program (IPP). IPP Export Price Indexes measure the price change of goods and services sold to foreign buyers. The BLS will discontinue production and publication of its Export Price Indexes. These indexes currently are used in the production of National Income and Product Accounts and in the calculation of real Gross Domestic Product. In addition, these indexes are used to help understand trends in U.S. real trade balances and competitiveness and issues such as the impact of exchange rate movements.

Through these measures, the BLS will be able to preserve the quality of its remaining products.