Overview

• McEntarfer, dismissed on August 1, said removing the government’s chief labor statistician endangers the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ independence.
• She said she learned of her termination only after a reporter asked about President Trump’s Truth Social post, then found a White House email stating she was terminated immediately.
• Trump alleged without evidence that jobs figures were manipulated after a weak July report showing 73,000 jobs and downward revisions of 258,000 for May and June, which economists say reflect routine updates.
• McEntarfer compared interference in economic data to turning off traffic signals and pointed to Argentina, Greece, and Turkey as examples of how lost trust can raise borrowing costs and worsen crises.
• Trump has nominated E.J. Antoni of the Heritage Foundation, a critic of BLS methods, to lead the agency, putting potential changes to reporting practices under heightened scrutiny.