Trump Fires Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner

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President Trump unleashed his fury about weakness in the labor market on Friday, saying without evidence that the data were “rigged” and that he was firing the Senate-confirmed Department of Labor official responsible for pulling together the numbers each month.

In a long post on social media, Mr. Trump said he had directed his team to fire Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, who was confirmed on a bipartisan basis in 2024.

Emily Liddel, an associate commissioner for the bureau, confirmed late Friday that Dr. McEntarfer had been fired and that William Wiatrowski, the deputy commissioner, would serve as acting commissioner.

The president fired Dr. McEntarfer after the bureau released monthly jobs data showing surprisingly weak hiring in July and large downward revisions to job growth in the previous two months. Economists widely interpreted the report as evidence that Mr. Trump’s policies were beginning to take a toll on the economy, though the president insisted in a subsequent post that the country was “doing GREAT!”

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/business/economy/trump-bls-firing-jobs-report.html

 

[Webster]

(The Guardian) Trump nominates economist at the Heritage Foundation as the new BLS commissioner
President Donald Trump announced he is nominating EJ Antoni, the chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, as the next commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Our Economy is booming, and E.J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

The nomination comes after Trump fired the BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer earlier this month after the release of a weak jobs report.

Antoni has previously voiced concerns about revisions to the jobs data at BLS. “There are better ways to collect, process, and disseminate data – that is the task for the next BLS commissioner, and only consistent delivery of accurate data in a timely manner will rebuild the trust that has been lost over the last several years,” Antoni posted on X earlier this month.