On August 1, 2025, President Donald Trump announced that he has directed the termination of Erika McEntarfer, the current commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). He accused her of manipulating employment data for political gain, specifically alleging that she falsified job statistics prior to the election to aid Vice President Kamala Harris's chances of winning. In a post on Truth Social, Trump expressed his concern over the integrity of job statistics, calling for reliable figures that could not be influenced by political motives.
Trump's announcement closely followed the release of the July jobs report, which revealed a substantially lower than expected increase of just 73,000 nonfarm jobs, alongside revised figures indicating a combined decrease of over 250,000 jobs for May and June. McEntarfer had been appointed to her position by then-President Joe Biden in July 2023 and was confirmed by the Senate the following January with broad bipartisan support.
Critics have labeled Trump's firing of McEntarfer as politically charged and lacking in legitimate reasoning related to her performance or expertise. Gary Hufbauer, a former Treasury Department official and now a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, remarked that while the BLS staff may resist extensive interference in how data is collected and presented, Trump's forthcoming appointee might still shape the communications in a manner favorable to Trump's agenda.
5 Comments
Eugene Alta
Anyone who questions the integrity of the BLS has no clue about economic data.
anubis
If the numbers were intentionally distorted to benefit Biden, well, she had it coming!
paracelsus
Trump is right to be suspicious. We need to audit these government agencies.
anubis
This is a direct attack on the impartiality of government agencies. Very dangerous.
paracelsus
Purely a revenge tactic. The man can't stand being contradicted by facts.