Overview

• President Trump ordered the immediate removal of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after she released July job figures he labeled manipulated without evidence.
• July’s report showed just 73,000 new jobs alongside downward revisions of 258,000 positions for May and June, a rise in unemployment to 4.2 percent, and a fifth consecutive month of manufacturing contraction.
• No internal audit or external review has corroborated the president’s allegations that the agency altered employment data.
• Economists link the labor market slowdown to the administration’s tariffs and immigration policies and warn that politicizing federal statistics could undermine economic policymaking.
• A successor to McEntarfer will be nominated soon, fueling investor caution as markets adjust their bets on potential Federal Reserve rate cuts.