General Discussion

The big picture: The data offers key insights about consumer activity in any given year, including expenditures, income and demographic information.

It is the only "federal household survey to provide information on the complete range of consumers' expenditures and incomes," the BLS website says.

Crucially, the data is also used to determine the weighting of specific goods and services in the Consumer Price Index for the year ahead.
The intrigue: The release was postponed last year, but the BLS offered more details then, including that the data would be released two weeks later.

The agency is under tremendous strain, with staffing shortages and limited resources. It is also under unprecedented attack from the White House

BLS has already cut back on data collection for specific CPI categories and certain regions, a result of staffing shortages and budget cuts.