Economists and Democratic lawmakers have slammed President Donald Trump for firing Erika McEntarfer, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), after the agency published a weaker-than-expected jobs report for July.
Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota accused Trump on X, formerly Twitter, of choosing to “kill the messenger” because he didn’t like the message, while Ernie Tedeschi— director of economics at The Budget Lab and former chief economist for the White House Council of Economic Advisers—said he’d worked with McEntarfer directly and knew “no economist who is more data-focused & devoted to truth in statistics.”
I’ve worked closely with Erika. I know of no economist who is more data-focused & devoted to truth in statistics. She never shied from speaking truth to power when the data were disappointing. Nothing would be worse for US credibility than political meddling in our economic data. https://t.co/6DJrKrSDnx
— Ernie Tedeschi (@ernietedeschi) August 1, 2025
“Nothing would be worse for US credibility than political meddling in our economic data,” Tedeschi added.
Trump had accused McEntarfer, without providing evidence, of manipulating reports for “political reasons” on Friday, and announced that he had directed his team to fire her “immediately.”
Newsweek has reached out to the BLS for comment.
Why It Matters
McEntarfer’s dismissal came as U.S. employers added just 73,000 jobs in July, far fewer than even the meager 100,000 estimates. The BLS also announced the biggest downward revision in years, across May and June, with 258,000 fewer jobs, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent.
A few hours after the BLS jobs report was published on Friday, Trump announced he was firing McEntarfer in a Truth Social post.
The firing of a high-level labor statistician after the release of adverse economic data raised alarms about the politicization of nonpartisan agencies and reliability of official U.S. economic statistics. Experts and lawmakers stressed that the integrity of the BLS is central to public trust and informed economic decision-making. The episode also unfolded against a backdrop of a cooling U.S. labor market and mounting pressure on policymakers, including Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, by Trump and his administration.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
What To Know
Trump’s announcement that he was firing McEntarfer, and allegations that she was manipulating the data and had “faked” the job numbers before the 2024 election to “try and boost Kamala [Harris’] chances of victory,” sparked outcry among Democrats, economists and some of the public at large.
William Beach, the BLS commissioner preceding McEntarfer and now senior economics fellow at the Economic Policy Innovation Center, slammed her dismissal, warning it could set a “dangerous precedent.”
“The totally groundless firing of Dr. Erika McEntarfer, my successor as Commissioner of Labor Statistics at BLS, sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau,” he wrote on X.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts added on social media, “Instead of helping people get good jobs, Donald Trump just fired the statistician who reported bad jobs data that the wanna-be king doesn’t like.”
Conversely, some in Trump’s MAGA base were unfazed by the firing and urged the president to go further.
Conservative commentator Laura Loomer said on social media, “Why are there still Biden appointees in the Trump admin? Vetting Crisis! Great job by President Trump who just announced he is firing Biden holdover Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics. Every single Biden holdover must be FIRED.”
Who Is Former Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer?
McEntarfer was appointed under President Joe Biden to serve as commissioner of the BLS, the federal agency responsible for tracking employment, unemployment and economic trends.
Her academic and government career centers on labor economics and data transparency, and she has previously overseen monthly job reports under both the Biden and Trump administrations.
Chuck Schumer, Cory Booker React to the Firing
Prominent Democrats condemned the firing as retaliatory. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York also accused Trump of “shooting the messenger” because he didn’t like her news.
“What does a bad leader do when they get bad news? Shoot the messenger,” he said. “That’s just what happened with the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Today we got some of the worst labor numbers that we’ve gotten in a long time.”
Senator Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, added on Friday, “it sounds very Soviet, very authoritarian, very ‘1984.’”
Why Were the US Job Numbers Revised?
Monthly job figures are often revised as new and more complete information becomes available. The July report reflected the biggest downward revision in years—totaling 258,000 fewer jobs for May and June.
According to experts and the BLS, revisions typically stem from updated tax records and business surveys that show previous estimates were inaccurate. Critics worried the scale of the revision may erode public trust in the data, while specialists emphasized that such recalibrations are routine in the context of real-time reporting.
Economist Alex Jacquez told Newsweek, “Big downward revisions for May and June show that Trump’s chaotic trade policies likely impacted the labor market more than we thought earlier in the year, halting a strong jobs market.”
Latest U.S. Unemployment Rates
The unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent in July, up slightly from June’s 4.1 percent despite U.S. employers adding 73,000 jobs last month. Experts cited the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown for increasing unemployment.
Michael Gapen, chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley, told Reuters, “Immigration restrictions have and will continue to have a chilling effect on participation and will continue to add to downward pressure on the unemployment rate.”
What People Are Saying
Tedeschi added on X: “Cannot overstate how damaging this is to US credibility. All economists know–sometimes the data come in good, sometimes bad. Shooting the messenger does nothing. And this is all over a jobs report where the unemployment rate is still low and jobs grew in July!”
Economist Doug Holtz-Eakin, president of conservative American Action Forum and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, told The Washington Post: “The president is just shooting the messenger, it’s not more complicated than that. The data that were released today conformed in every way to the standards of past employment reports.”
Author and frequent Trump critic Stephen King said on X: “Gotta love Trump. NOTHING is his fault.”
Senator Brian Schatz, Hawaii Democrat, said to reporters about Trump: “Just absolutely insane, absolutely nuts. The economy is tanking and he’s terrified and he’s acting like a dictator.”
Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday: “McEntarfer said there were only 73,000 Jobs added (a shock!) but, more importantly, that a major mistake was made by them, 258,000 Jobs downward, in the prior two months. Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative. The Economy is BOOMING under ‘TRUMP’ despite a Fed that also plays games, this time with Interest Rates, where they lowered them twice, and substantially, just before the Presidential Election, I assume in the hopes of getting ‘Kamala’ elected – How did that work out? Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell should also be put “out to pasture.” Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
What Happens Next
The Department of Labor has named BLS Deputy Commissioner William Wiatrowski as acting commissioner while the agency searches for a replacement for McEntarfer, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said.
