And we're officially at the end of being able to trust the jobs numbers in this country ever again. pic.twitter.com/8hBGH7vok8
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) August 1, 2025
As the former Chief of Staff at DOL, which oversees the Bureau of Labor Statistics, I cannot tell you how outrageous this is.
Commissioners are appointed to a fixed term. We had a Trump appointee we worked closely w/.
Nobody is faking numbers. Revisions happen all the time. https://t.co/HmzJozDgNM
— Dan Koh (@dank) August 1, 2025
President Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on August 1, 2025. The July report showed 73,000 new jobs, and revisions to May and June knocked 258,000 jobs off prior estimates.
“the job market was far weaker than previously believed. Large cuts to earlier job counts erased 258,000 positions originally reported for May and June”
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/trump-fires-bls-commissioner-raising-concerns-about-economic-data-quality-2025-08-01/
Trump claimed the figures were “rigged in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/08/01/trump-fires-bls-chief/
Economists and former officials pushed back hard. William Beach, who led BLS under Trump, called the firing “without merit” and warned it “undermines the credibility of federal economic statistics.”
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/trump-fires-bls-commissioner-raising-concerns-about-economic-data-quality-2025-08-01/
A less common angle: response rates in BLS surveys have dropped over the last decade, inflating the impact of later adjustments and making revisions larger. That dynamic may explain part of the 258,000‑job drop.
Analysts note that lower response rates and lagging small‑business data—not political bias—drive big swings in monthly revisions.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/trump-fires-bls-commissioner-raising-concerns-about-economic-data-quality-2025-08-01/
• July added just 73,000 jobs
• May and June revised down by 258,000 total
• Acting Commissioner William Wiatrowski took over immediately
Lori Chavez‑DeRemer backed the removal. Chuck Schumer said it echoes authoritarian methods. Senate leader Schumer emphasized that firing a messenger weakens trust.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/01/democrats-condemn-trump-fire-bls-chief-00489063
Predictable risk: future employers, households, and investors may doubt official U.S. data if political leaders target federal statisticians for standard revisions.
Q: If any government officials present data you don't like, should they fear for their jobs?
Trump: We need people we can trust.
pic.twitter.com/GPVdw5N102— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) August 1, 2025
This is how democracies die.
Step 1: Dislike the facts.
Step 2: Attack the fact-finders.
Step 3: Replace them with loyalists.
Step 4: Control the "truth."— Andrew Weinstein (@Weinsteinlaw) August 1, 2025
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