Trump fires BLS chief over job data dispute
Critics warn move could erode trust in official U.S. statistics
Top White House advisers defended President Donald Trump's firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics pushing back against criticism that Trump's action could undermine confidence in official U.S. economic data.
Trump ordered the firing of BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after her bureau's monthly nonfarm payrolls report included downward revisions that showed 258,000 fewer jobs had been created in May and June than previously reported. Trump accused her of faking the numbers without providing any evidence of data manipulation.
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said the president is, quote, "right to call for new leadership."
"The big downward revision is something of a puzzle. I don't think it was explained very well. So I think what we need is a fresh set of eyes at the BLS, somebody who can clean this thing up," Hassett said. And the U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that Trump had "real concerns" about the data.
But many economists and officials slammed Trump's move, saying it would shake trust in a respected statistical agency.
William Beach, a former BLS commissioner, said there is, quote, "no way for a commissioner to rig the jobs numbers," and that there was a "500,000 job revision during President Trump's first term" when Beach was commissioner.The revisions in the report were, however, large by historic standards.
The BLS gave no reason for the revised data but noted that "monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors."
Trump said he would announce a new head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) within three or four days. Trump also said that Americans could get some kind of dividend or distribution of money as a result of tariffs being imposed on U.S. trading partners.
