President Trump ordered the dismissal of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Dr. Erica McEntarfer after a disappointing July jobs report and a massive 258,000 downward revision of the May-June total. Using TruthSocial as his vehicle, President Trump expressed outrage over the revision of his data and the inflation of Biden's job numbers during the election season.
I was just informed that our Country’s “Jobs Numbers” are being produced by a Biden Appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, who faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory. This is the same Bureau of Labor Statistics that overstated the Jobs Growth in March 2024 by approximately 818,000 and, then again, right before the 2024 Presidential Election, in August and September, by 112,000. These were Records — No one can be that wrong? We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes. 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. Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative. 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 – How did that work out? Jerome “Too Late” Powell should also be put “out to pasture.” Thank you for your attention to this matter!
I'm agnostic on the charge that McEntafer was deliberately skewing data to make President Trump look bad. That said, the numbers were horribly inaccurate, and she was in charge of the agency that produced them as well as the supervisor of the analysts and statisticians who compiled the economic statistics. Bad data is worse than no data at all, and the size of the jobs revision for May-June certainly calls into question the methodology and the motivations of lower-level analysts. The Wall Street Journal says, "The July jobs report undershot forecasts, suggesting the economy added just 106,000 positions over the past three months, although unemployment stood at 4.2% last month, matching expectations." I'm really not sure how that is even possible.
In the current political environment, allowing a veteran of Joe Biden's misrule to
BLS is blaming the poor data reliability on a shortage of people and "proposed budget cuts:"
The agency has scaled back its data-collection efforts for its benchmark inflation report amid staffing shortages and proposed budget cuts. Earlier this week, BLS said those reductions, which result in a greater reliance on mathematical assumptions to bridge data gaps, were more extensive than previously indicated.
That seems rather lame as the jobs data suffered substantial revisions in past years. For instance, from March 2023 to March 2024, the initial BLS estimates were revised down by some 68,000 jobs per month when the BLS was dining off the fatted calf, so to speak. If the data collection and analysis can be off by orders of magnitude, perhaps the methodology needs to change. For that to happen, the agency needs new leadership and focus. Allowing a Biden appointee to hold the position under those circumstances is simply silly.
Dr. McEntarfer will not be missed. Worst casing it, Trump gets his own BLS commissioner who would be well advised to produce consistent data, even if it is unfavorable, rather than throwing in wild, unexplained changes. In the best case, this is Voltaire's observation on the execution of Admiral John Byng (pour encourager les autres) applied to the federal bureaucracy. Trump would be well advised to use this opportunity to put his people at the head of all the agencies within the federal statistical system so he has confidence in the data his administration uses to make decisions.
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