Trump fires statistics chief over ‘rigged' jobs figures
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump accused Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the government agency, of manipulating the numbers both before and after last year's presidential election to favour the Democrats over the Republicans.
He did not provide any direct evidence to support his claims against McEntarfer, an economist who was nominated for the role by Joe Biden in July 2023. The latest statistics, released on Friday, showed only 73,000 jobs had been added in July, well below the expected figure of 110,000, while the numbers for May and June were revised downwards.
'In my opinion, today's jobs numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad,' Trump wrote, insisting that 'the economy is BOOMING under 'TRUMP' '.
He added: 'We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified.'
The US labour secretary, Lori Chavez-De Remer, backed the move and claimed that 'a recent string of major revisions have come to light and raised concerns about decisions being made by the Biden-appointed Labor commissioner'.
McEntarfer did not directly respond to the allegations but said in a statement on social media: 'It has been the honour of my life to serve as commissioner of BLS alongside the many dedicated civil servants tasked with measuring a vast and dynamic economy. It is vital and important work and I thank them for their service to this nation.'
Her role will be taken over by the deputy commissioner of the BLS, William Wiatrowski, until a replacement is nominated by Trump and confirmed by the Senate.
The decision to fire McEntarfer was criticised by several Republican senators as well as the previous commissioner of the BLS, William Beach, who was nominated by Trump.
Beach said the sacking set a 'dangerous precedent' and described the allegation of faked figures as 'totally groundless'. In a statement issued jointly with another former commissioner, Erica Groshen, he said: 'This escalates the president's unprecedented attacks on the independence and integrity of the federal statistical system.'
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The jobs estimates were produced in the same way every month and revisions were carried out every month 'to reflect slower-arriving, more-accurate information', he said, adding that Trump was seeking 'to blame someone for unwelcome economic news'.
Rand Paul, Cynthia Lummis and Thom Tillis, the Republican senators, also questioned the reasons for dismissal. Tillis told NBC: 'If she was just fired because the president or whoever decided to fire the director just did it because they didn't like the numbers, they ought to grow up.'
The latest report showed the manufacturing sector reported its third consecutive month of job losses, with factory jobs down by 11,000 in July, despite Trump's efforts to use tariffs to encourage companies to manufacture more goods in the US. Government lay-offs also weighed on payrolls, the sector losing 12,000 jobs.
The US Department of Labor reported that hiring in May and June was weaker than it had previously stated. Employers added 258,000 fewer jobs across those two months than previously forecast. The unemployment rate rose to 4.2 per cent from 4.1 per cent in June.
Trump remained unrepentant as he left the White House on Friday, telling reporters: 'I believe the numbers were phoney, just like they were before the election, and there were other times — so you know what I did? I fired her. And you know what I did? The right thing.'
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