US EditionTrump Says He Doesn't Trust the Jobs Data, but Wall Street and Economists Do
UNITED STATES, AUG 4 – President Trump fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics director after job data revisions showed the largest May-June hiring cuts outside recessions in 50 years, sparking debate over data reliability.
- President Donald Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics director, following the July jobs report showing weak hiring.
- This firing happened amid large revisions lowering May and June job gains after tariffs slowed hiring, with Trump claiming the data was rigged without evidence.
- Surveys compiling jobs data face challenges from declining response rates worsened since COVID, worsened by funding cuts and disbanded commissions under Trump's administration.
- Despite unusually large revisions—the biggest outside recessions since 1967—economists including Kevin Hassett and Omair Sharif, and Wall Street maintain trust in the data's reliability.
- The events suggest care is needed interpreting labor data amid structural challenges, but the jobs report remains a crucial economic indicator with broad confidence.
119 Articles
119 Articles
The real problem with America's jobs data
A customer walks by a now hiring sign posted in front of a Ross Dress For Less store on April 7, 2023, in Novato, California.Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesTrump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after a disappointing jobs report he said was "RIGGED."While BLS faces data collection problems, monthly revisions to the job creation numbers aren't unusual.A lack of resources presents a much bigger threat to the integrity of economic data…
‘Successful Businessman’ Trump Mobilizes Business Economists Against Him
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. Tired of Winning Yet? President Trump’s firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has notched a new accomplishment for the bumbling autocrat: drawing the ire of economists that businesses rely on to forecast the broader economic environment and plan their operations. On Friday, the National Association for Business…
Taxpayers need good government data
President Donald Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Friday after the July Employment Situation report revised May and June payroll estimates down by more than 250,000 jobs total. Trump is a businessman who is used to paying for good data, and so he understandably was flummoxed by the BLS’s consistently overestimating initial jobs numbers, only to revise them down later. But the BLS commissioner is not a chief…
Associated Press News
Trump says he doesn't trust the jobs data, but Wall Street and economists do
The monthly jobs report is already closely-watched on Wall Street and in Washington but has taken on a new importance after President Donald Trump on Friday fired the official who oversees it.
The surprising labor data forced Trump to make an extreme decision and left the Federal Reserve at the center of a debate on credibility and future economics.
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