Trump: Jobs report was ‘rigged’, just like numbers prior to presidential election

US President Donald Trump again criticised Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Monday and said the jobs report last week showing a slump in hirings was ‘rigged’. Trump’s claim came in his post on his social media platform, Truth Social, a couple of days after he announced the removal of McEntarfer under whose watch the official report was released. “Last week’s jobs report was rigged, just like the numbers prior to the presidential election were rigged. That’s why, in both cases, there was massive, record setting revisions in favour of the Radical Left Democrats,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

The monthly report showed only 73,000 job additions in July, while stating that 258,000 fewer jobs were created in May and June than previously reported.

BLS had earlier projected 125,000 job additions in May and 147,000 in June but downgraded them to 19,000 and 14,000, respectively. In the revision, the report showed a marginal uptick in July’s unemployment rate to 4.2% from 4.1% in the preceding month.

“Those big adjustments were made to cover up and level out the FAKE political numbers that were CONCOCTED in order to make a great Republican Success look less stellar!!! I will pick an exceptional replacement (sic),” Trump said.

McEntarfer, who assumed the charge of labour bureau in January 2024, was nominated in the tenure of former president Joe Biden. Her appointment was confirmed by the US Senate, which had approved the move by a vote of 86:8. Among those who voted in her favour was JD Vance, the vice president in the Trump administration.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CBS that Trump had “real concerns” about the BLS data, while Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said the president “is right to call for new leadership”.

The BLS compiles the closely watched employment report as well as consumer and producer price data.