Policy Forum 

# A Conversation with Former BLS Commissioners William Beach and Erica Groshen 

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Date and Time 

October 8, 2025 11 AM - 12 PM EDT 

Location 

Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC 

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##### Featuring 

![Erica Groshen](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-09/erica-groshen-circle.jpeg?itok=v9PfTbSB) 

Erica Groshen 

Former Commissioner of Labor Statistics; and Senior Economics Advisor, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University

[ 

](https://twitter.com/EricaGroshen) 

![William Beach](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-09/william-beach-circle.jpeg?itok=VyyFRKpg) 

William Beach 

Former Commissioner of Labor Statistics; Executive Director, Fiscal Lab on Capitol Hill; and Senior Fellow in Economics, Economic Policy Innovation Center

[ 

](https://twitter.com/BeachWW453) 

[![Norbert Michel Cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-01/norbert-m-cropped.jpg?itok=8WIx97Dk)](/people/norbert-michel) 

[Norbert J. Michel](/people/norbert-michel)

Vice President and Director, Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/norbertjmichel) 

[![jai-kedia-cropped.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-07/jai-kedia-cropped.jpg?itok=In6dB8gW)](/people/jai-kedia) 

[Jai Kedia](/people/jai-kedia)

Research Fellow, Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/jaikedia) 

Free markets are a core principle of libertarianism, and data are a central element to furthering economic freedom.

Accurate data are essential to researchers of all philosophies—liberal, conservative, and libertarian—and all researchers must rely on objective facts as a baseline to inform policy and have legitimate debate in the marketplace of ideas.

For better or worse, the federal government is currently one of the main sources of economic data, and users must be able to rely on the objectivity of its data.

Given recent events, is there a legitimate reason to rethink how government data are compiled? What is the role of private institutions? Are there changes that could be implemented to better serve the researchers who utilize the data most? William Beach and Erica Groshen, former heads of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Norbert Michel, vice president and director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, will address these questions.

Please join us for this timely and important discussion, led by these influential thought leaders, about the data that inform the government’s policies.

**Lunch will follow.**

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