The August jobs report comes out Friday. It’ll be the first read on nationwide job creation, unemployment, and wages since the lackluster July report that also featured downward revisions to the previous few months’ job creation.

It’s not just economic journalists glued to their computers when federal economic data is released. On the morning of the release of the consumer price index, Nicole Cervi’s first thought is “CPI comes out today, therefore I should probably get a coffee on the way to work.”

The Wells Fargo economist spoke to “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal about the role government data plays in her day to day.

“Wells Fargo is a massive bank, we’re one of those globally systematically important banks, so we do have a lot of data,” Cervi said. “But we don’t have access to all consumers, all businesses, whereas the government is in a better position to have a sample that really truly represents most businesses and consumers better than even a large institution like Wells Fargo can.”

Despite these strengths, Cervi worries about declining survey response rates.

To hear more of their conversation, use the audio player above.