A former Labor Secretary had strong words for President Donald Trump after his latest move.
Trump last week fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer and accused her of manipulating economic data to hurt him politically. The jobs report that McEntarfer’s agency released that day showed that hiring was largely flat during Trump’s first quarter in office, and the workforce participation rate declined.
Robert Reich, an economist and former leader of the Department of Labor, discussed McEntarfer’s firing on a recent episode of Pod Save America with host Jon Lovett.
“It’s so dumb,” Reich said. “Jon, this is beyond foolish and dumb. This is crazy!”
“This administration, no, this regime, Trump has done some really dumb things. Obviously, we all know it. But this is putting the entire economy in jeopardy,” he added.
Reich explained that Trump’s assertion of political interference with the job numbers is implausible because of how the BLS operates. He said the agency goes to great lengths to protect its independence and that assertions otherwise are a “big crock of lies.”
“It’s amazing bull—-,” Reich said. “The [BLS] routinely changes, as new information comes in about previous months, they revise [the numbers]. They want to make it so accurate. They know the stakes are so high.”
Trump, who touts himself as an accomplished businessman, should know the importance of these statistics as well, Reich argued. Domestic and international investors use them to judge the health of the U.S. market.
“This is serious, worrisome,” Reich said. “This is a government that is totally out to lunch.”