Trump Fires BLS Commissioner Over Jobs Report Revisions Accusations

The U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly terminated the office of Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), following the release of a disappointing July jobs report that included substantial downward revisions for May and June data [1]. Trump accused McEntarfer of “rigging” the numbers to make him and Republicans look bad, citing a pattern of alleged manipulation around the 2024 presidential election [1]. According to the president, McEntarfer had previously inflated job numbers to bolster the Biden administration’s economic record before the election, only to revise the figures downward after Trump’s victory [1].

McEntarfer, a 52-year-old economist with a PhD in Economics from Virginia Tech, had served at the BLS since her confirmation by the U.S. Senate in January 2024. She had previously worked at the Council of Economic Advisers and the Census Bureau [1]. Her dismissal marks a dramatic shift in Trump’s approach to federal economic data, which had previously been overseen by former BLS Commissioner William Beach, who was appointed by Trump in 2018 [1].

Critics of the president have challenged the validity of his claims, noting that no credible evidence has emerged to support the allegations of data manipulation. William Beach, former BLS Commissioner and a Trump appointee, expressed skepticism about the feasibility of the commissioner exerting such influence. He told NBC that the commissioner does not review final data until it is already completed [1]. A group of former BLS leaders, including Beach, Paul Schroeder, and Erica Groshen, through the independent organization Friends of BLS, issued a statement condemning the firing as “baseless” and warned of the risks of politicizing economic data [1].

Kevin Hassett, Director of the National Economic Council, defended the decision, attributing the recent downward revisions to issues with data collection since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic [1]. Hassett claimed that the BLS has seen a significant rise in the frequency and magnitude of revisions to employment figures, with the recent revision of 258,000 jobs being the largest since 1965 [1].

The controversy raises broader concerns about the independence and credibility of federal economic data, particularly at a time when trust in institutions is already fragile. If the BLS is perceived as politically influenced, it could have far-reaching implications for economic policy and investor confidence [1].

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