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Testimony of
Maurine A. Haver
Chair, Statistics Committee
National Association for Business Economics
and
President, Haver Analytics
Before the House Committee on Government Reform's Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial Management, and Intergovernmental Relations
September 17, 2002
Chairman Horn, members of the Subcommittee, I am pleased to testify today
in support of H.R. 5215, the "Confidential Information Protection
and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002". I am speaking in my capacity
as chair of the Statistics Committee of the National Association for Business
Economics (NABE) on behalf of our members. The members of our association
have a keen interest in the quality of economic statistics produced by
the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the Bureau of the Census and the
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). We use these statistics daily in our
work to help our companies and clients make informed business decisions
that have real?dollar consequences.
We believe passage of this legislation will
- Protect the confidentiality of our company's proprietary information supplied to the government.
- Minimize the burden imposed on our companies by the statistical agencies because duplicate surveys could be eliminated.
- Improve the quality of our national economic information, especially statistics at the industry level, because of more complete and consistent source data.
The business community and financial markets derive significant benefits from the collection and dissemination of economic data by these agencies. Complaints of respondent burden are often misinterpreted. Most companies recognize the value of government statistics and actively use statistics produced by our federal statistical agencies as the basis of many operation and planning decisions. Companies need industry and national statistics of the highest quality and are willing to do their part through participation in government surveys as long as confidentiality of their proprietary information can be assured and data collection is done efficiently.
This bill is important because it extends confidentiality protections for respondents to all Federal agencies that collect data for statistical purposes under a pledge of confidentiality, and it prohibits the use of these data for any other purpose. It also specifically prohibits disclosure of information under the Freedom of Information Act. This uniform set of confidentiality protections will do a great deal toward reducing concern about reporting to Federal government agencies.
Current statutory barriers to the sharing of business data among agencies result in duplicate surveys that not only increase respondent burden but also introduce classification errors when different respondents in the same firm classify an establishment's primary business differently. This can happen because an employee responsible for payroll information may respond differently than one who is knowledgeable about revenues by business line. For those of us who work in businesses that were not recognized under the old SIC classification system, it is also not surprising that different classification choices are made by the same business establishment on different surveys. This legislation will not only reduce the number of opportunities for misclassification but will also allow the statistical agencies to flag inconsistencies and investigate data anomalies. The bottom line for all of us is greater efficiency and higher quality statistics.
Since NABE launched its Campaign for Quality Economic Statistics in 1995, it has conducted several surveys of its members. In our first survey (1995), 71 percent indicated that decisionmaking in their firm had been adversely impacted by lack of quality data. This percentage has climbed over time to over 80 percent. When asked the "most important step" that could be taken to improve the quality of government data other than increased spending, 98 percent cited data sharing (52.8%) or a consolidation of statistical agencies (45.2%) that would permit data sharing. Our organization has always supported balanced budgets and has recognized that to meet the challenge of measuring this increasingly complex economy, the federal statistical agencies must be as efficient as possible. Data sharing is essential to increased efficiency.
Problems of data quality or lack of economic information pose heavy costs on our society. We must begin a renewed effort to improve our statistical system so it can provide us with the information we need to make appropriate decisions for the twenty?first century. We believe that this bill will encourage businesses to do their part through streamlined reporting and greater assurance of data confidentiality. We urge passage of this bill.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your invitation to participate in this hearing
and for your efforts over several years to improve our federal statistical
system. I would be happy to answer questions.
National Association for Business Economics
1233 20th Street NW #505
Washington, DC 20036
Phone 202.463.6223 Fax 202.463.6239
nabe@nabe.com
© 2003, NABE®
