President Trump ordered his administration to fireplace the commissioner of labor statistics, Erika McEntarfer, after the July jobs report confirmed a pointy slowdown in hiring and a steep downward revision to Might and June’s hiring numbers.
“Nobody could be that unsuitable? We’d like correct Jobs Numbers. I’ve directed my Crew to fireplace this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media.
He added, “She can be changed with somebody rather more competent and certified. Necessary numbers like this have to be truthful and correct, they cannot be manipulated for political functions.”
The president described the newest report, which confirmed employers in July added a weaker-than-expected 73,000 jobs, as “a shock,” including that the downward revision of 258,000 fewer jobs created in Might and June was a “main mistake.”
McEntarfer did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Though Mr. Trump claimed, with out proof, that the newest employment report revision for Might and June undermines the information’s accuracy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics regularly revises its earlier job numbers to mirror new data, whereas previous months’ numbers are sometimes revised each upwards and downwards. The earlier revision was made within the June jobs report, when the BLS revised April and Might’s numbers larger.
McEntarfer’s firing drew criticism from economists and coverage consultants, who mentioned the transfer threatens the integrity of financial knowledge from a trusted federal company
Mr. Trump “is firing the messenger as a result of he would not appear to love jobs numbers that mirror how badly he is broken the economic system,” Lily Roberts, managing director for Inclusive Progress on the Middle for American Progress, a Washington, D.C., suppose tank, mentioned in an announcement.
She added, “The info he needs to cover is produced by nonpartisan economists who’ve been doing this work for many years. Politicizing our nation’s assortment of knowledge on what is going on on within the economic system may shake markets that depend on unbiased data, and it’ll make it tougher to create an economic system that makes certain everybody has job.”
Heather Lengthy, chief economist on the Navy Federal Credit score Union, mentioned in a social media put up that Mr. Trump’s dismissal of McEntarfer is “mainly unprecedented and can increase issues about U.S. knowledge integrity going ahead,” noting that BLS additionally points carefully watched knowledge on inflation, wages and employee productiveness.
Some Republican lawmakers additionally expressed concern in regards to the firing.
“The statistics are what they’re,” Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming instructed CBS Information. “It is not the statistician’s fault if the numbers are correct and that they are not what the president had hoped for.”
In a social media post, Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer mentioned she supported the firing, and added that Deputy Commissioner William Wiatrowski will function performing commissioner. “A current string of main revisions have come to gentle and raised issues about selections being made by the Biden-appointed Labor Commissioner,” she wrote.
McEntarfer was named because the sixteenth commissioner of Labor Statistics in January 2024, after she was nominated by President Biden in 2023 and confirmed in early 2024 by the Senate. A labor economist, McEntarfer had spent greater than 20 years in positions with the federal authorities, together with the U.S. Census Bureau and the Treasury, according to her bio.
Stagnating job market
Mr. Trump’s firing of McEntarfer got here after the July jobs report signaled that the labor market has stalled with employers holding off on hiring partially due to uncertainty of the administration’s commerce insurance policies.
The July knowledge seems to again up anecdotal proof from the Federal Reserve’s most recent “beige book,” which compiles feedback from native companies, that many corporations had been delaying hiring “till uncertainty diminished.”
“Primarily based on what I used to be listening to from lots of employers, I stored anticipating to see a stagnant job report sooner or later, that is what we received immediately,” Laura Ullrich, Certainly’s director of financial analysis for North America and a former official on the Federal Reserve Financial institution of Richmond, instructed CBS MoneyWatch.
