Trump fires BLS' Erika McEntarfer over jobs numbers
The BLS' monthly labour report on Friday showed that the US economy added only 73,000 jobs in July, far below expectations. It also sharply revised down the employment growth that had been previously reported in May and June – by a combined 258,000 jobs, reports CNN.
After the revisions, the jobs report showed the weakest pace of hiring for any three-month period since the pandemic recession in 2020.
'In my opinion, today's Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad,' Trump said in a Truth Social post while calling the revisions a 'mistake'.
Although the May and June jobs numbers were worse than initially believed, revisions are normal in this process. The BLS' initial monthly jobs estimates are often based on incomplete data, so they are revised twice after the initial report — followed by an annual revision every February. Additionally, BLS economists use a formula to smooth out jobs' numbers for seasonal variations and that can exacerbate revisions when they fall outside economists' expectations.
'McEntarfer said there were only 73,000 Jobs added (a shock!) but, more importantly, that a major mistake was made by them, 258,000 Jobs downward, in the prior two months,' Trump continued.
'Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative. The Economy is BOOMING under 'TRUMP.''
Trump said McEntarfer 'faked' the jobs numbers before the election to try to boost former Vice President Kamala Harris' chances in the 2024 presidential election.
'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,' Trump said on Truth Social Friday.
McEntarfer was confirmed by the Senate 86-8 in January 2024 for a term of four years.
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