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TRUMP DEMANDS BLS DIRECTOR FIRED OVER BAD JOBS REPORT
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Brad Reed
August 1, 2025
Common Dreams
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_ One economist mused that the president's economic advisers could
make "a picture book" so they can "explain to Trump how the data are
collected." _
, Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump
[[link removed]] stunned economics
experts on Friday when he demanded the firing of Erika McEntarfer, the
current commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In justifying his call to fire McEntarfer, Trump baselessly accused
her of manipulating economic data to hurt him politically by releasing
a report showing that the economy only added
[[link removed]] 73,000 jobs
last month.
U.S. President Donald Trump
[[link removed]] stunned economics
experts on Friday when he demanded the firing of Erika McEntarfer, the
current commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In justifying his call to fire McEntarfer, Trump baselessly accused
her of manipulating economic data to hurt him politically by releasing
a report showing that the economy only added
[[link removed]] 73,000 jobs
last month.
"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," the president wrote
[[link removed]] on
his Truth Social platform. "Similar things happened in the first part
of the year, always to the negative."
Trump also accused a Federal Reserve committee of conspiring to help
former Vice President Kamala Harris
[[link removed]] beat him last
November, writing, "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."
Trump's angry rant about the purportedly rigged jobs report set off
alarms among many economists who said that the president's actions
would badly damage the credibility of any future numbers put out by
the BLS and other agencies.
"Trump firing the BLS director for a bad jobs report—days after
demanding the Smithsonian remove him from the list of impeached
presidents—is banana republic stuff," remarked
[[link removed]] Jessica
Riedl, an economist at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a
conservative think tank. "Trump just ensured that we should not trust
any government data coming out of his administration. Why should we
trust data from agencies in which the director's job depends on
altering any bad economic news?"
Harvard University economist Jason Furman warned that Trump could be
setting the stage for a major crisis if his administration really
starts faking economic data.
"This is awful," he wrote
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on Bluesky. "Reliable economic data is a key strength of the U.S.
economy. When Argentina and Greece faked economic data it contributed
to major crises. I don't think Trump will be able to fake the data
given the procedures. But there is now a risk plus an awful
appearance."
Michael Strain, an economist at the conservative American Enterprise
Institute, similarly emphasized
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important it is that U.S. businesses have access to accurate economic
data to make informed decisions.
"By incorrectly asserting that the data are biased, President Trump is
undermining the integrity of the information that policymakers,
businesses, households, and investors use to make important decisions
that affect the welfare of the nation," he warned. "It is imperative
that decision-makers understand that government statistics are
unbiased and of the highest quality. By casting doubt on that, the
president is damaging the United States."
Dean Baker, an economist at the progressive Center for Economic and
Policy Research, questioned whether Trump's directive to his team to
fire was a fresh sign of mental decline.
"I was thinking that someone on Trump's economic team could explain to
him how the data are compiled, but I realize that they can't even
explain to him that his big beautiful tariffs are taxes on us," he
joked [[link removed]]. "I guess
in his current mental condition, Trump just can't learn anything new."
Baker then mused
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president's economic advisers could make "a picture book" so they can
"explain to Trump how the data are collected."
Some Democratic politicians were also quick to hammer Trump for his
call to fire McEntarfer simply for reporting disappointing jobs
numbers.
"Instead of helping people get good jobs, Donald Trump just fired the
statistician who reported bad jobs data that the wannabe king doesn't
like," said
[[link removed]] Sen.
Elizabeth Warren [[link removed]]
(D-Mass.).
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) accused
[[link removed]] Trump of
"trying to cook the books by firing the non-political career civil
servant who oversees the data, because he wants to hide the truth of
his failed policies from the American people."
And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said
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attack on McEntarfer was a classic sign of failed leadership.
"What does a bad leader do when they get bad news? Shoot the
messenger," he said
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Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
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