Trump fires BLS chief after 258,000 job figure revision sparks backlash

President Donald Trump’s abrupt dismissal of Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), has sparked a rare bipartisan critique, including from former allies who question the timing and implications of the decision. McEntarfer, a Biden appointee, was fired following a significant downward revision of previously reported job figures for May and June, totaling 258,000 fewer jobs, marking the largest revision in nearly six decades [1]. In a post on Truth Social, Trump accused her of “manipulating” and “faking” data for political purposes and vowed to replace her with someone “more competent” [1].

Stephen Moore, a former economic advisor to Trump and ex-Federal Reserve nominee, criticized the timing of the firing, comparing it to “firing the referee because you don’t like the way the game turned out” [1]. While Moore did not defend Trump, he agreed with the sentiment that the BLS had long needed an overhaul, stating that the current data had become increasingly unreliable in his 40 years of economic research [1]. He attributed this to outdated data collection methods and declining response rates to the BLS’s surveys, particularly as the use of landlines has waned [1].

The pandemic has only accelerated these trends. Response rates to the BLS’s Current Employment Statistics surveys have dropped from 60% before 2020 to 45% currently [1]. A bipartisan group of economists, including Nobel Laureate Paul Romer, recently urged Congress to allocate resources to modernize the BLS data collection process [1]. They emphasized the need to integrate more administrative and private-sector data with traditional survey methods while maintaining data integrity and privacy standards [1].

However, the reliability of the revised figures remains a subject of debate. Claire Mersol, an economist at the BLS, told the Wall Street Journal that many of the revisions were part of “routine recalculation of seasonal factors” [1]. She explained that in June, most of the revisions were negative across industries, suggesting that the sharp downward adjustment could be coincidental [1].

Despite concerns about data reliability, some Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski, questioned the effectiveness of firing McEntarfer. Paul noted that removing the head of the BLS would not necessarily improve data accuracy, stating, “You can’t really make the numbers different or better by firing the people doing the counting” [1]. Murkowski added that such an action could further erode public trust in the data [1].

The controversy highlights a broader debate about the future of economic data collection. While some argue for a complete overhaul of the BLS methodology, others caution that abrupt personnel changes may not address the underlying challenges. The situation underscores the political sensitivity of economic data and the complexities of modernizing long-standing statistical methodologies [1].

Source: [1] Former Trump advisor Stephen Moore criticizes Erika McEntarfer ousting timing—Bureau of Labor Statistics [https://fortune.com/2025/08/05/former-trump-advisor-stephen-moore-criticizes-erika-mcentarfer-ousting-timing-bureau-labor-statistics/]