Trump Fires Senior Labor Official Over Jobs Numbers

by · Forbes

Topline

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer on Friday confirmed the firing of Biden-area appointee Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, after a weak jobs report showed a steep drop off in jobs added in July.

Key Facts

Trump ranted against McEntarfer in a Truth Social post and lodged accusations that she manipulated the jobs numbers during the 2024 election to benefit Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

The president has long criticized the Bureau for its jobs data and revisions, specifically pointing to a revision made Friday that cut a combined 258,000 jobs from the counts of the two months prior.

Trump said McEntarfer will be replaced with someone "much more competent and qualified."

Friday's jobs report showed that only 73,000 nonfarm jobs were added last month, well below economists' projections, and that the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.2%.

This is a developing story and will be updated.