Make ‘ME look bad’: Trump defends firing jobs official
Donald Trump has doubled down on his decision to fire the head of the agency that produces the US monthly jobs figures, alleging the statistics were “rigged”.
Source: Newsmax
US President Donald Trump has defended his decision to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, accusing her of making up jobs numbers.
Trump had BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer sacked on Friday (local time), despite no evidence of any wrongdoing, after a report showed hiring slowed in July and was much weaker in May and June than previously reported.
In a post on his social media platform, Trump alleged that the figures were “RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad”.
Trump, who provided no evidence for his claim, again criticised McEntarfer on Sunday.
“I thought her numbers were wrong, just like I thought her numbers are wrong before the election. Days before the election she came up with these beautiful numbers for Kamala Harris, Biden as well, came up with these beautiful numbers to get someone else elected,” he said.
White House economic advisers defended the move, rejecting criticism it could undermine confidence in official US economic data.
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US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CBS that Trump had “real concerns” about the BLS data, while Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said Trump was “right to call for new leadership”.
“The President wants his own people there so that when we see the numbers, they’re more transparent and more reliable,” Hassett said.
He said on Fox News Sunday the main concern was Friday’s BLS report of net downward revisions showing 258,000 fewer jobs been created in the US May and June than previously reported.
The BLS compiles the closely watched US employment report, as well as consumer and producer price data.
It gave no reason for the revised data but noted “monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors”.
McEntarfer, who was nominated in 2023 by then president Joe Biden, said the job had been the “honour of my life”.
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“It has been the honour of my life to serve as Commissioner of BLS alongside the many dedicated civil servants tasked with measuring a vast and dynamic economy,” she said in a post on social media platform Bluesky.
“It is vital and important work and I thank them for their service to this nation.”
McEntarfer’s firing added to growing concerns about the quality of US economic data. It came on the heels of further tariffs on dozens of trading partners last week, which sent stock markets tumbling as Trump presses ahead with plans to reorder the global economy.
Critics, including former leaders of the BLS, slammed Trump’s move and called on Congress to investigate McEntarfer’s removal, saying it would shake trust in a respected agency.
“It undermines credibility,” said William Beach, a former BLS commissioner and co-chair of the group Friends of the BLS.
“There is no way for a commissioner to rig the jobs numbers,” he said on CNN’s State of the Union.
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers also criticised McEntarfer’s firing.
“This is a preposterous charge. These numbers are put together by teams of literally hundreds of people following detailed procedures that are in manuals,” Summers said on ABC’s This Week.
-with AAP
