Washington [US], August 4 : US President Donald Trump has defended his decision to fire Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after a disappointing jobs report, claiming she was responsible for "the biggest miscalculations in over 50 years," according to The Hill.
Taking to Truth Social, Trump on Sunday (local time) alleged McEntarfer had manipulated job data during critical political moments. "She did the same thing just before the Presidential Election, when she lifted the numbers for jobs to an all time high. I then won the Election, anyway, and she readjusted the numbers downward, calling it a mistake, of almost one million jobs. A SCAM!" Trump wrote.
The firing came just hours after the Labor Department reported that the US added only 73,000 jobs in July, significantly below economists' expectations. The department also issued sharp downward revisions for May and June, showing 258,000 fewer jobs than initially reported. The Hill reported that the administration stood by the dismissal, arguing that McEntarfer's leadership compromised the reliability of federal labor data.
"She did it again, with another massive 'correction,' and got FIRED!" Trump added in his social media post.
However, the decision triggered swift backlash on Capitol Hill. Democrats accused Trump of targeting a nonpartisan official to deflect blame for the weak labour numbers. "Just absolutely insane, absolutely nuts. The economy is tanking and he's terrified and he's acting like a dictator," said Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), The Hill reported.
Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) also reacted sharply, stating, "That's some weird Soviet s---. Blaming the messenger? Nothing's ever his fault."
On Sunday, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers dismissed Trump's claims as "preposterous," emphasizing the integrity of the data compilation process. "There's no conceivable way that the head of the BLS could have manipulated this number," Summers told NBC's Meet the Press, according to The Hill. "The numbers are in line with what we're seeing from all kinds of private sector sources."
Summers, who held senior positions in both the Clinton and Obama administrations, also noted he was "surprised that other officials have not responded by resigning themselves."
Former BLS Commissioner William Beach warned the move set a troubling precedent. "It undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau," he said, as reported by The Hill.
McEntarfer, who was nominated by former President Joe Biden and confirmed by the GOP-controlled Senate in an 86-8 vote early last year, had been overseeing data collection for labor, wage growth, and inflation metrics.
Defending the president's decision, Kevin Hassett, chair of the National Economic Council, said on Meet the Press: "The president wants his own people there so that when we see the numbers, they're more transparent and more reliable."