Trump Fires Labor Official Amid Jobs Report Fallout

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President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed Erika McEntarfer, a senior Labor Department official, following a disappointing jobs report that revealed significant downward revisions to recent employment figures. Trump claimed, without evidence, that the data had been manipulated for political purposes.

In a statement posted on Truth Social, Trump said, “We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified.”

McEntarfer, appointed under former President Joe Biden, was responsible for overseeing economic data publication for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The White House has not provided specific evidence supporting the allegation that she or the BLS manipulated the figures. A BLS spokesperson did not comment on the firing.

The BLS, which compiles the nation’s employment and inflation data, reported that the U.S. economy added only 73,000 jobs in July. More concerning to analysts were the net revisions, showing that May and June’s job gains were overestimated by a combined 258,000.

The timing of McEntarfer’s dismissal coincided with another major development: the early resignation of Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Kugler. Her departure provides Trump with an earlier-than-expected opportunity to reshape the central bank, a body he has repeatedly criticized for maintaining interest rates he considers too high.

The dual events deepened uncertainty in financial markets already rattled by Trump’s latest tariff measures. The S&P 500 fell 1.6% on Friday, marking its sharpest daily decline in over two months.

A senior Trump administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House has long had concerns about the reliability of economic data, pointing to declining survey response rates and lingering issues from the pandemic era. “The markets, companies, and the government need accurate data, and we just weren’t getting that,” the official said.

According to BLS data, response rates to the establishment survey used for the monthly employment report have dropped from 80.3% in October 2020 to about 67.1% in July 2025. These figures have raised concerns among economists about data reliability, especially amid resource and staffing constraints at the agency.

The BLS has also scaled back data collection for critical inflation measures like the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI), citing budget limitations. These changes have prompted further worries that economic indicators used by policymakers and markets are becoming less accurate.

A recent Reuters survey of 100 policy experts found that 89 expressed at least some concern about the quality of U.S. economic data. Many also felt the federal government had not acted swiftly enough to resolve these challenges.