Trump Purges BLS Chief Over Bad Jobs Report
Trump’s baseless firing of the BLS Commissioner signals a dangerous attack on facts and government accountability.
The emperor wears no clothes. In yet another display of erratic and unbecoming behavior as President of the United States, Donald Trump has fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer. His stated reason? That Dr. McEntarfer "faked the jobs numbers before the election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of victory," and that Dr. McEntarfer rigged a job report that Trump didn't like. The accusation is not only absurd—it’s completely unsupported by evidence. In reality, Trump’s decision undermines the integrity of one of the federal government’s most important data-gathering institutions. It will only get worse so long as Trump remains in power.
The Background
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is one of the most important institutions in government. Through its work, the BLS provides critical information about labor economics. It is responsible for informing the public about a large swath of events and data involving the state of workers in the United States. Information on job reports, the status of minimum wage workers, women in the workplace, and more can be found on its website. In short, the BLS keeps the public informed about the nature of the labor economy and ensures that Americans have access to good, transparent data.
Last Friday, the BLS reported that the U.S. economy only produced a weak 73,000 jobs in July, well below the expected number of 115,000. The report also adjusted for new data, cutting roughly 258,000 jobs in May and June, suggesting that the economy was far weaker than previously thought, likely due to Trump's ongoing trade war. Trump has attempted to argue that these cuts reflect rigging and that such a move constitutes a "MAJOR MISTAKE," but as The New York Times' Chief Economics Correspondent, Ben Casselman reports, such revisions are common and are due to more information being gathered after reports are released. In other words, Trump's argument that these revisions indicate meddling is without merit.
And yet, Trump still fired Dr. McEntarfer based on these frivolous accusations. History repeatedly has shown that such a move will only hurt the nation that permits it.
Attacking Accurate Data
Donald Trump is waging a war on facts. He has done so multiple times throughout his political career, telling over 30,573 lies or misleading statements during his first term in office. Such an inclination to lie not only endangers the truth of the American people—who consistently disapprove of the Trump administration—but also makes accurate information about the labor market all the more important.
Ben Casselman, in a follow-up report on the firing, pointed out that countries that have previously engaged in similar behavior have seen their credibility suffer significantly. In China, for example, the government began falsifying data to meet the government's unrealistic expectations, which prompted analysts to rely on other data sources. Said sources likely didn't enjoy the same credibility that government agencies would, making it harder to analyze information about life in China empirically. Argentina worsened a debt crisis in the early to mid 200s by falsifying information about inflation. Trump is setting a similar standard with this firing.
The Warnings
Democrats aren't the only ones worried about the administration's decision to fire the commissioner. William Beach, Donald Trump's former BLS commissioner, said on CNN that there was "no way" that Dr. McEntarfer could rig the data because the BLS commissioner does not collect the data about the jobs report. As former commissioner Beach explained:
“The commissioner doesn’t do anything to collect the numbers. The commissioner doesn’t see the numbers until Wednesday before they’re published. By the time the commissioner sees the numbers, they’re all prepared. They’re locked into the computer system. The only thing the commissioner does on Wednesday is to kind of do the edits on the text."
There is no basis whatsoever for this firing; it is entirely based on Trump's frustration with a jobs report that he can't change. Such a move is not only dangerous but also puts good governance itself at risk. No government can effectively carry out its policies without reliable data to evaluate the validity of its policies.
Only an informed government—and an informed public—can maintain an effective government. Trump can argue all he likes that Dr. McEntarfer was a partisan actor fighting against him. However, the fact remains that his own Vice-President voted for her confirmation in the Senate.1 She was consistently supported by a bipartisan coalition that took her for what she was—a strong agent of the United States government, serving the American people. Trump threw her away.
Conclusion
We need a government that can effectively inform the American people about the state of our country, and no amount of authoritarian ego can erase that need. By firing Dr. McEntarfer, Donald Trump has not only put the effort to respond to that need under direct threat, but he has thrown good government itself away. As The New York Times' Peter Baker wrote, "Government officials who deal in data now fear they have to toe the line or risk losing their jobs." That is an unacceptable reality that we now live in. Unfortunately, Donald Trump seems entirely untethered from reality, and unless he is removed, Americans will pay the price for his delusion.
References
Ahn, Ashley. 2025. “Until Trump Fired Her, She Was an Economist With Bipartisan Support.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/us/politics/until-trump-fired-her-she-was-an-economist-with-bipartisan-support.html (August 4, 2025).
Baker, Peter. 2025. “Trump Fires Official Over Jobs Report, Echoing an Authoritarian Playbook.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/us/politics/trump-bls-jobs-facts.html (August 4, 2025).
Casselman, Ben. 2025. “Trump Fired America’s Economic Data Collector. History Shows the Perils.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/business/trump-bls-firing-economic-reports.html (August 4, 2025).
Casselman, Ben, and Tony Romm. 2025. “Trump, Claiming Weak Jobs Numbers Were ‘Rigged,’ Fires Labor Official.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/business/economy/trump-bls-firing-jobs-report.html (August 4, 2025).
Casselman, Ben, and Jeanna Smialek. 2024. “Leaked Reports and Political Heat Are Testing Trust in Economic Data.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/05/business/economy/bls-economic-data-jobs-report-cpi.html (August 4, 2025).
Demianyk, Graeme. 2025. “Trump’s Former Labor Statistics Chief Says There’s ‘No Way’ Jobs Numbers Were ‘Rigged.’” HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-bureau-of-labor-statistics-william-beach_n_6890a81ce4b0b6f38d13cfcf (August 4, 2025).
“Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump).” Truth Social. https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/114954846612623858 (August 4, 2025).
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Jacobson, Louis. “Trump’s Baseless ‘Manipulated’ Data Claim in BLS Firing.” @politifact. https://www.politifact.com/article/2025/aug/01/trump-fire-bls-mcentarfer-jobs-report/ (August 4, 2025).
Kanno-Youngs, Zolan. 2025. “Lashing Out Over Russia and Jobs Data, Trump Displays His Volatile Side.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/us/politics/trump-russia-jobs.html (August 4, 2025).
Ma, Jason. 2025. “Shockingly Bad Jobs Report Reveals a Monthslong Stall and May Trigger Fed Rate Cuts Soon. ‘Powell Is Going to Regret Holding Rates Steady.’” Fortune. https://fortune.com/2025/08/01/jobs-report-july-downward-revisions-fed-rate-cuts-jerome-powell/ (August 4, 2025).
“PN837 - Nomination of Erika L. McEntarfer for Department of Labor, 118th Congress (2023-2024).” 2024. Congress.gov. https://www.congress.gov/nomination/118th-congress/837 (August 4, 2025).
Rugaber, Christopher, and Paul Wiseman. 2025. “US Employers Slash Hiring as Trump Advances a Punishing Trade Agenda.” The Associated Press. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/economy-likely-created-115000-jobs-in-july-as-labor-market-loses-momentum/ar-AA1JHUhD?ocid=BingNewsSerp (August 4, 2025).
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“Trump’s Former Labor Statistics Chief Says There’s ‘No Way’ Jobs Numbers Were ‘Rigged’ | HuffPost Latest News.” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-bureau-of-labor-statistics-william-beach_n_6890a81ce4b0b6f38d13cfcf (August 4, 2025).
“U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 118th Congress - 2nd Session.” Senate.gov. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1182/vote_118_2_00007.htm (August 4, 2025).
Wallace, Jeremy L. 2016. “Juking the Stats? Authoritarian Information Problems in China.” British Journal of Political Science 46(1): 11–29. doi:10.1017/S0007123414000106.
Dr. McEntarfer was confirmed by a vote of 86 to 8. The idea that she was some partisan actor is ridiculous.