White House economic advisers have on defended President Donald Trump’s firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, rejecting criticism it could undermine confidence in official US economic data.
Trump had BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer sacked on Friday, despite no evidence of any wrongdoing, after a report showed hiring slowed in July and was much weaker in May and June than previously reported.
Trump, in a post on his social media platform, alleged that the figures were “RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad”.
Trump again criticised McEntarfer on Sunday, saying he would name a new commissioner in the next three or four days.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CBS that Trump had “real concerns” about the BLS data, while Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said the president “is right to call for new leadership”.
Hassett said on Fox News Sunday the main concern was Friday’s BLS report of net downward revisions showing 258,000 fewer jobs had been created in May and June than previously reported.
Trump accused McEntarfer of faking the jobs numbers, without providing any evidence of data manipulation.
The BLS compiles the closely watched employment report as well as consumer and producer price data.
The BLS gave no reason for the revised data but noted “monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors”.
McEntarfer’s firing added to growing concerns about the quality of US economic data and came on the heels of a raft of new tariffs on dozens of trading partners, sending global stock markets tumbling as Trump presses ahead with plans to reorder the global economy.
Critics, including former leaders of the BLS, slammed Trump’s move and called on Congress to investigate McEntarfer’s removal, saying it would shake trust in a respected agency.
“It undermines credibility,” said William Beach, a former BLS commissioner and co-chair of the group Friends of the BLS.
“There is no way for a commissioner to rig the jobs numbers,” he said on CNN’s State of the Union.
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers also criticised McEntarfer’s firing.
“This is a preposterous charge. These numbers are put together by teams of literally hundreds of people following detailed procedures that are in manuals,” Summers said on ABC’s This Week.
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