Trump fires Biden labor official after negative job report

President Trump, upset at Friday’s job numbers, said he fired the Biden-appointed Labor Department official in charge of compiling employment data.

He also said the jobs numbers reported Friday were “rigged” to make Republicans and him look bad. He called it “a total scam.”

Mr. Trump said he ordered his team to oust Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of Labor Statistics, effective immediately, accusing her of fudging labor reports to damage his administration and boost Vice President Kamala Harris’ chances ahead of last year’s election.

He vowed to replace her with someone “much more competent and qualified.”

“This is the same Bureau of Labor Statistics who faked the jobs numbers before the election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of victory. This is the same Bureau of Labor Statistics that overstated job growth in 2024 by approximately 818,000 and then again before the 2024 Presidential Election in August and September by 112,000. These were records — no one can be that wrong? We need accurate jobs numbers,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ jobs report on Friday showed a notable slowdown in hirings last month as the U.S. added 73,000 jobs in July. That figure represented a slowdown from 147,000 jobs added in June and fell below analysts’ expectations of 100,000 jobs created.

In addition, the report revealed that hiring in May and June was much weaker than previously reported. Revisions showed that employers added a combined 258,000 fewer jobs in May and June than estimated.

The report also showed that unemployment ticked up to 4.2% from 4.1% in June, but in line with analysts’ estimates.

“She will be replaced with someone more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate. They can’t be manipulated for political purposes. McEntarfer said there are 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,” Mr. Trump continued. “Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative. The economy is booming under Trump.”

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirmed that Ms. McEntarfer was terminated on Friday and Deputy Commissioner William Wiatrowski will serve as acting commissioner.

Democrats were incensed over the firing.

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, said Mr. Trump was “afraid to own up to the reality of the damage his chaos is inflicting on our economy.”

“Bottom line, Trump wants to cook the books. Trump can’t get through a single day without making some catastrophic decision that undermines confidence in the U.S. economy,” he said.

Under Ms. McEntarfer’s leadership, the Bureau of Labor Statistics was criticized for a series of missteps that put the agency under scrutiny.

A panel of experts that included government and private-sector members looked into the incidents and found no dishonest or nefarious motives, but still raised red flags.

Among the incidents was inadvertently posting the April 2024 Consumer Price Index and Real Earnings data roughly 30 minutes before their scheduled 8:30 am Eastern time release. That raised concerns that the data could have moved the U.S. Treasury market earlier.

Months earlier, a Bureau of Labor Statistics economist was reported to have been sharing undisclosed technical calculations that provided the CPI data with private-sector economists.