Erika McEntarfer, the former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, responded to her termination in a social media post.
Top White House officials on Sunday said that it was necessary to fire former Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) head Erika McEntarfer following the release of a lower-than-expected jobs report late last week.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CBS News on Sunday morning that the president had “real concerns” about the BLS data, while National Economic Council head Kevin Hassett told Fox News that President Donald Trump was “right to call for new leadership” at the bureau.
Hassett said that Trump’s concern with the data released on Aug. 1 related to downsizings made to the May and June data, indicating 258,000 fewer jobs had been created in those two months.
“What we need is a fresh set of eyes over the BLS,” Hassett also told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
After the report was issued, Trump announced on Aug. 1 he was firing McEntarfer. She had been nominated to her position by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in an 86–8 vote.
In a subsequent post on social media platform Bluesky, McEntarfer wrote that “it has been the honor of my life to serve as Commissioner of BLS alongside the many dedicated civil servants tasked with measuring a vast and dynamic economy.”
In the report on Aug. 1, the BLS did not provide a reason for why it revised the data but noted that “monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors.”
In a statement on Truth Social, Trump alleged that McEntarfer had “faked the jobs numbers” ahead of the 2024 election to boost his then-rival, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
“No one can be that wrong” the president said. “We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes.”
In another Truth Social post, Trump added that he believes that the Aug. 1 report on jobs was “RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.”
