A furious President Donald Trump has fired the Commissioner of Labor Statistics following a dismal June jobs report that showed only 73,000 new jobs added and downward revisions of more than 250,000 for April and May.
“I was just informed that our Country’s ‘Jobs Numbers’ are being produced by a Biden Appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfer,” Trump wrote in a social media post, baselessly accusing her of having “faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is an independent statistical agency and part of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Claiming that the Bureau had “overstated the Jobs Growth in March 2024 by approximately 818,000 and, then again, right before the 2024 Presidential Election, in August and September, by 112,000,” Trump wrote: “These were Records — No one can be that wrong?”
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“I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified,” he vowed. “Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes.”
“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,” he noted.
Trump then also called for the termination of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, despite having claimed he does not plan to fire him before his term ends next year.
“The Economy is BOOMING under ‘TRUMP’ despite a Fed that also plays games, this time with Interest Rates, where they lowered them twice, and substantially, just before the Presidential Election, I assume in the hopes of getting ‘Kamala’ elected – How did that work out? Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell should also be put ‘out to pasture.’ Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
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Democracy Docket reported that McEntarfer’s “firing raises the threat of political interference in U.S. economic data, which economists warn would undermine confidence in the economy.”
The media outlet called her dismissal “part of Trump’s ongoing efforts to take control of traditionally independent federal agencies, and to use them for political gain.”
Critics blasted the move.
“Unquestionably the most dangerous and corrupt attack on the independence of US economic data in American history,” wrote Joey Politano, who writes the economics Substack Apricitas Economics. “Trump is firing the head of the BLS, [a] longtime civil servant confirmed 86-8 by the Senate, simply because the job numbers came in below his expectations today.”
Arin Dube, Provost Professor of Economics at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, issued this warning:
“Firing the Commissioner of Labor Statistics when the BLS revises jobs numbers down (as it routinely does) threatens to destroy trust in core American institutions, and all government statistics. I can’t stress how damaging this is.”
Journalist and author Charles Fishman noted, “Trump doesn’t like Friday’s official job statistics. Trump fires career labor economist who is Commissioner of Labor Statistics. This is what authoritarianism looks like. Don’t like reality? Fire the person, insist on a new reality. Completely undermines trust in gov’t data.”
Journalist Brian J. Karem wrote: “Remember the part about ‘shooting the messenger’? This is a real Third World, Russian or North Korean propaganda move. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen Don. You don’t get to burn down the house.”
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) declared, “Breaking: Kill the messenger.”
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