Trump fires head of labour statistics after weak jobs figures

President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the firing of the head of the Bureau of Labour Statistics, hours after a shocking government report showed that hiring had slowed down significantly over the past three months. Trump took to Truth Social and attacked Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the BLS. He claimed that the country’s jobs reports “are being produced by a Biden appointee” and ordered his administration to terminate her.

“We need accurate Jobs Numbers,” Trump wrote. “She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes.”

An official in the Trump administration confirmed to NBC News that McEntarfer had indeed been fired shortly after the post.

The BLS on Friday morning reported that the US economy added just 73,000 jobs in July, well below estimates. It also said it had revised the May and June numbers lower by more than 200,000 jobs combined.

President Joe Biden had nominated McEntarfer in July 2023 and she was confirmed by the Senate in an 86-to-8 vote (with six members not voting) in January 2024 in an overwhelming bipartisan support.

In the last 20 years, McEntarfer has worked in the Census Bureau, Treasury Department and on the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers.

The BLS revises economic data such as the jobs report, GDP figures and inflation data as a routine since there can often be lags in data collection due to the scale of the US economy and response rates to surveys. These lags do not imply any manipulation or wrongdoing.

Typically, the politicisation of economic data and potential interference with it by political appointees is seen in non-democratic countries like Russia or China.

The economic data of the United States has always been considered the gold standard due to the independence typically given to agencies collecting it.