President Donald Trump’s decision to fire the Bureau of Labor Statistics director over weak jobs report numbers was torn to shreds by The New York Times editorial board on Tuesday.
The decision, which Trump claims with no evidence is because the statistics were somehow rigged or falsified by Democrats to make him look bad, will only ensure that “America will suffer” from the collapse of trust among federal statistics gatherers and the people who use them, the board wrote.
“Mr. Trump’s allegations against Erika McEntarfer, the longtime public servant whom he summarily fired, have no foundation in reality,” wrote the board. “The government’s monthly report on the labor market is produced by the bureau’s nonpartisan staff. Estimates for different parts of the economy are compiled separately and then pulled together into a national report, which is completed before it reaches the desk of whichever political appointee happens to be running the bureau. Experts, including past leaders of the agency nominated by presidents from both parties, said that it was effectively impossible for the bureau’s leader to manipulate those numbers.”
The bigger problem, the board wrote, is that Trump sent a clear message to McEntarfer’s successor, and other nonpartisan agencies, that they must please him or risk their jobs, even if the actual cold, hard numbers are bad news.
“Public servants must now do their work while fearing that they may be fired merely for producing information that displeases the president. Mr. Trump is also making it harder for the government to obtain information, as people and businesses asked to respond to questions now have reason to doubt whether the answers will be accurately reported.”
Trump claims to be concerned about the integrity of federal data, the board wrote, but he’s actually undermining it.
“Instead of improving the quality of information gathered and reported by the government, he is sowing doubts about the ability of federal agencies to produce reliable data,” the board warned.
A number of countries have gone down this road, with devastating consequences, the editorial noted, with countries like Greece and Argentina spiraling into crisis because investors couldn’t trust the accuracy of statistics fudged to please the government.
“The original meaning of the word ‘statistics’ is ‘information about the state.’ Without statistics, a state cannot operate effectively. It cannot establish good rules. It cannot make good decisions,” wrote the board.
There are real challenges BLS faces in gathering accurate data — although ironically, noted a recent report from the conservative National Review, the Trump administration axed a volunteer commission of experts who were working on improving that accuracy.
“[Trump] is not interested in how many jobs the American economy will produce this month,” the board concluded. “In firing Dr. McEntarfer, Mr. Trump made clear that he doesn’t want to know the answer.”