Trump fires US official after publication of job report

US President Donald Trump has ordered the Commissioner of the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics Erika McEntarfer to be fired after data showed weaker than expected employment growth in July and massive downward revisions to the prior two months' job counts.

Ms McEntarfer was nominated by former president Joe Biden to serve in the role in 2023 and was confirmed by the US Senate the following year.

Labor Department data showed US job growth missed expectations last month and revisions to hiring figures in recent months brought them to the weakest levels since the Covid-19 pandemic.

It was not immediately clear whether Ms McEntarfer, whom Mr Trump accused of faking the jobs numbers, had been fired.

In a post on Truth Social, the president 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."

There is no evidence to back Mr Trump's claims of data manipulation by the BLS, the statistical agency that compiles the closely watched employment report as well as consumer and producer price data.

The White House did not respond immediately to questions about Mr Trump's post.

The order to dismiss Ms McEntarfer comes at a time when the Trump administration's mass layoffs of federal government workers have raised concerns about the quality of US economic data, long seen as the gold standard.

Earlier this year, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick disbanded two expert committees that worked with the US government to produce economic statistics.

Mr Lutnick has also floated the idea of stripping out government spending from the gross domestic product report, claiming "governments historically have messed with GDP".

The BLS has already reduced data collection for the consumer price data as well as the producer price report.

Economists attributed the sharply slower job growth to Mr Trump's trade and immigration policies.

The Department of Labor said yesterday that United States added 73,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.2% from 4.1%.

Hiring numbers for May were revised down from 144,000 to 19,000.

The figure for June was shifted from 147,000 to 14,000.

This was notably lower than job creation levels in recent years. During the pandemic, the economy lost jobs.

The employment data points to challenges in the key labour market as companies take a cautious approach in hiring and investment while grappling with Mr Trump's sweeping - and rapidly changing - tariffs this year.

The numbers also put pressure on the central bank as it mulls the best time to cut interest rates.

With tariff levels climbing since the start of the year - both on imports from various countries and on sector-specific products such as steel, aluminium and autos - many firms have faced higher business costs.

Some are now passing them on to consumers.

William Beach, who previously held Ms McEntarfer's post at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, warned that her firing "sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the bureau".

The National Association for Business Economics condemned her dismissal, saying large revisions in jobs numbers "reflect not manipulation, but rather the dwindling resources afforded to statistical agencies".

"Firing the head of a key government agency because you don't like the numbers they report, which come from surveys using long established procedures, is what happens in authoritarian countries, not democratic ones," Larry Summers, former US Treasury secretary under Democratic president Bill Clinton, said.

Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, said the latest jobs report was a "gamechanger".

"The labour market is deteriorating quickly," Ms Long said, noting that of the growth in July, "75% of those jobs were in one sector: healthcare".

"The economy needs certainty soon on tariffs," Ms Long said.

"The longer this tariff whiplash lasts, the more likely this weak hiring environment turns into layoffs," she added.

It remains unclear when the dust will settle, with Mr Trump ordering the reimposition of steeper tariffs on scores of economies late Thursday, which are set to take effect in a week.

A sharp weakening in the labour market could push the Federal Reserve toward cutting interest rates sooner to shore up the economy.

Yesterday, the two Fed officials who voted this week against the central bank's decision to keep rates unchanged warned that standing pat risks further damaging the economy.

Both Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman and Governor Christopher Waller argued that the inflationary effects of tariffs were temporary.

They added in separate statements that the bank should focus on fortifying the economy to avert further weakening in the labour market.

Putting off an interest rate cut "could result in a deterioration in the labour market and a further slowing in economic growth," Ms Bowman said.