Trump fires labor statistics chief after disappointing job numbers

President Trump ordered his administration to fire the commissioner of labor statistics, Erika McEntarfer, after the July jobs report showed a sharp slowdown in hiring and a steep downward revision to May and June's hiring numbers.

"No one can be that wrong? We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY," Mr. Trump wrote on social media.

He added, "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."

The president described the latest report, which showed employers in July added a weaker-than-expected 73,000 jobs, as "a shock," adding that the downward revision of 258,000 fewer jobs created in May and June was a "major mistake."

McEntarfer didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Although Mr. Trump claimed, without evidence, that the latest employment report revision for May and June undermines the data's accuracy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics frequently revises its previous job numbers to reflect new information, while past months' numbers are often revised both upwards and downwards. The previous revision was made in the June jobs report, when the BLS revised April and May's numbers higher.

McEntarfer's firing drew criticism from economists and policy experts, who said the move threatens the integrity of economic data from a trusted federal agency

Mr. Trump "is firing the messenger because he doesn't seem to like jobs numbers that reflect how badly he's damaged the economy," Lily Roberts, managing director for Inclusive Growth at the Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C., think tank, said in a statement.

She added, "The data he wants to hide is produced by nonpartisan economists who have been doing this work for decades. Politicizing our country's collection of data on what's going on in the economy could shake markets that rely on unbiased information, and it will make it harder to create an economy that makes sure everyone has a good job."

Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, said in a social media post that Mr. Trump's dismissal of McEntarfer is "basically unprecedented and will raise concerns about U.S. data integrity going forward," noting that BLS also issues closely watched data on inflation, wages and worker productivity.

Some Republican lawmakers also expressed concern about the firing.

"The statistics are what they are," Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming told CBS News. "It's not the statistician's fault if the numbers are accurate and that they're not what the president had hoped for."

In a social media post, Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer said she supported the firing, and added that Deputy Commissioner William Wiatrowski will serve as acting commissioner. "A recent string of major revisions have come to light and raised concerns about decisions being made by the Biden-appointed Labor Commissioner," she wrote.

McEntarfer was named as the 16th commissioner of Labor Statistics in January 2024, after she was nominated by President Biden in 2023 and confirmed in early 2024 by the Senate. A labor economist, McEntarfer had spent more than 20 years in positions with the federal government, including the U.S. Census Bureau and the Treasury, according to her bio.

Mr. Trump's firing of McEntarfer came after the July jobs report signaled that the labor market has stalled with employers holding off on hiring in part because of uncertainty of the administration's trade policies.

The July data appears to back up anecdotal evidence from the Federal Reserve's most recent "beige book," which compiles comments from local businesses, that many companies were delaying hiring "until uncertainty diminished."

"Based on what I was hearing from a lot of employers, I kept expecting to see a stagnant job report at some point, that's what we got today," Laura Ullrich, Indeed's director of economic research for North America and a former official at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, told CBS MoneyWatch.