US EditionTrump fires Bureau of Labor Statistics head hours after weak jobs report
UNITED STATES, AUG 3 – Trump ordered the firing of BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer following a July report showing only 73,000 jobs added and a 258,000-job downward revision for May and June, sparking market declines.
- On August 1, 2025, President Donald Trump dismissed Erika McEntarfer, who was serving as the head of the agency responsible for compiling U.S. employment data, following the release of a disappointing jobs report in Washington, D.C.
- Trump accused McEntarfer of manipulating employment data to benefit Democrats, citing a 258,000-job downward revision in May and June without providing evidence.
- The Labor Department reported only 73,000 jobs added in July, below the expected 115,000, and unemployment rose to 4.2%; this followed sharp hiring revisions down from May and June.
- Economists and officials warned that firing McEntarfer threatens trust in government data, with William Beach calling it a "dangerous precedent," and Larry Summers likening it to authoritarian tactics.
- The firing increased uncertainty for businesses amid ongoing tariff-driven economic challenges and could pressure the Federal Reserve to consider earlier interest rate cuts to support the weakening labor market.
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Trump’s firing of BLS official casts shadow on federal data gathering
Donald Trump isn’t the first president to struggle over official data, with agencies like the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But trustworthy data is vital for financial markets, and the firing of BLS chief Erika McEntarfer has raised concerns.
President Of ‘Facts Don’t Care About Your Feelings’ Party Fires Statistician For Reporting Facts That Hurt His Feelings
We're becoming everything we (perhaps naively) assumed most Americans didn't want America to be: a backwater burg on the world map, overseen by a corrupt sheriff and known mostly for our routine rights violations and unwillingness to treat facts as facts. Bigotry is again the national sport and people bringing inconvenient facts are just fodder…
Trump’s firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics chief over baseless data claims follows a familiar pattern
On Aug. 1, President Donald Trump took a step many economists had feared: firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nonpartisan agency that collects a wide range […] The post Trump’s firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics chief over baseless data claims follows a familiar pattern appeared first on Poynter.
Trump fires Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner following negative July jobs report
President Trump announced the firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Friday, following the publication by the agency of a monthly jobs report for July that showed continued weakening of the US labor market.
After a bad report on employment figures, Donald Trump asked Friday for the dismissal of the head of the country's main economic statistics agency.
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