President Donald Trump announced on Aug. 1 that he has directed the termination of the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Writing in a Truth Social
post shortly after the July jobs report, Trump accused BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer of manipulating the job data and falsifying the employment numbers before the 2024 election "to try and boost [2024 presidential candidate Kamala Harris's] chances of victory."
“We need accurate jobs numbers," the president said.
"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," he added.
His comments come as the BLS reported that the U.S. economy added
73,000 new jobs last month, below the consensus forecast. The federal agency also revised the May and June numbers lower by a combined 258,000, which places the three-month employment growth rate at just 35,000.
In the first six months of 2025, downward revisions have totaled 461,000.
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer
confirmed the firing in a social media post, saying that Deputy Commissioner William Wiatrowski will serve as acting commissioner as the administration looks for a replacement.
McEntarfer did not immediately return a request for comment by The Epoch Times.
Trump also criticized Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, stating that he "should also be put 'out to pasture.'"
The BLS's data collection methods have come under fire in recent years amid the routine and sizable revisions to employment data.
Last year, following the Department of Labor's annual benchmark revisions, which found that U.S. job creation was overstated by
818,000, GOP lawmakers stated that the administration had been "seemingly cooking the books to boost public support" ahead of the election.
"Given the numerous downward jobs revisions published by the [BLS] over the last two years, we are seeking information regarding the BLS’s methodology in estimating job numbers in addition to why the BLS has failed to accurately assess changes in labor participation," a group of Republican senators, led by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Md.), said in a
letter to the Department of Labor.
The White House's efforts to reduce government spending have weighed on the bureau's activities.
Earlier this year, the agency announced that it was scaling back its consumer price information collection initiatives nationwide. It also confirmed that data collection would be stopped entirely in three cities: Buffalo, New York; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Provo, Utah.
"These actions have minimal impact on the overall all-items [consumer price index], but they may increase the volatility of subnational or item-specific indexes," the BLS said in a June 16
statement. "BLS makes reductions when current resources can no longer support the collection effort."
The president's 2026 budget proposal also requests an 8 percent reduction in the bureau's budget.
While not commenting on the administration's proposal, Powell
told reporters that it is crucial to obtain accurate data, as it can inform the central bank, the federal government, and the private sector.
"It's quite important for our economy and, certainly, for the Fed's work and other government agencies' work that we continue to get better at data," Powell said at the July 30 post-meeting press conference. "That's what we've been doing for 100 years."
