Overview

• Trump invited journalists to the Oval Office to display charts by adviser Stephen Moore claiming the BLS overstated job gains by 1.5 million under President Biden.
• They cited previously unpublished census figures to assert real median household income rose by $1,174 in the first five months of Trump’s administration.
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported just 73,000 new jobs in July and an unemployment rate rise to 4.2 percent.
• The Department of Labor revised May and June job creation down by a combined 258,000 positions, one of the largest nonannual adjustments in recent memory.
• Economists and bipartisan lawmakers warn that politicizing the BLS could erode confidence in U.S. economic data, with the agency’s leadership vacancy still unresolved.