On August 1, 2025, what began as a routine day for Erika McEntarfer, the then-commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), quickly spiraled into a national controversy that has since raised alarms about the independence of America’s economic institutions. The release of the July jobs report, which revealed the U.S. economy had added just 73,000 jobs and included a historically large downward revision of 258,000 jobs for May and June, was followed within hours by McEntarfer’s very public dismissal by President Donald Trump. The abrupt firing, announced on Trump’s Truth Social account, has drawn widespread attention to the stability and impartiality of the nation’s economic data apparatus.
For McEntarfer, the day was supposed to be business as usual. As she recalled in her first public remarks since the firing, delivered on September 16, 2025, at the Levy Economics Institute at Bard College—her alma mater—"August 1 was like any other first Friday of the month when the job numbers come out, and my quiet and usually obscure little corner [of] the government goes about its business of telling political leaders what these data tell us about the state of the economy." But, as she put it, "by the end of that day, I had been very publicly fired by the president of the United States and was on my way to becoming a household name. It was quite a day, to say the least." (CNN, Nexstar Media, Reuters)
The news, as it turns out, did not reach McEntarfer through official channels at first. Instead, she was contacted by a reporter seeking comment on Trump’s social media post that called for her immediate dismissal. "To be honest, I didn’t actually believe I had been fired," she recounted, until she checked her inbox and found a terse message from the White House sent just 20 minutes earlier: "Dr. McEntarfer: On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position at the Bureau of Labor Statistics has been terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service." (CNN, Reuters)
The White House’s rationale for the firing was blunt. Trump accused McEntarfer of manipulating employment data for political purposes, a charge made "without evidence," as multiple outlets noted. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers asserted, "For years the BLS has been failing America’s businesses, policymakers, and families by publishing jobs reports with vastly inaccurate data." Rogers continued, "The prior leadership at the BLS did not take any action to increase response rates or modernize data collection methods to improve the agency’s accuracy. These problems have existed for years and President Trump is actually taking steps to fix them." (Nexstar Media)
McEntarfer, a Biden appointee, pushed back against these claims during her Bard College lecture. "I can vouch for the accuracy and independence of the work of the agency up until the moment I was fired," she insisted. She acknowledged that response rates to surveys had declined and that funding shortfalls had made data collection more challenging, but emphasized that these issues had not compromised the integrity of the data. Revisions to job numbers, she explained, are a normal part of economic reporting, especially as more information becomes available. In her words, "Such revisions...are considered a feature and not a bug of economic data, which is frequently revised—especially as more comprehensive information becomes readily available—to provide a clearer, more accurate picture of the dynamics in play." (CNN)
During her pre-report briefing to the White House, McEntarfer and her team explained that the large downward revisions in May and June were caused by late-responding firms, particularly when the economy slows. "It was a pretty broad-based, negative skew," she said, noting that the last time such large revisions occurred was during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when businesses were "just too busy trying to stay alive." (CNN)
But McEntarfer’s central warning was about the broader consequences of her firing. "Firing your chief statistician is a dangerous step," she said. "That’s an attack on the independence of an institution arguably as important as the Federal Reserve for economic stability. It has serious economic consequences, but that they would do this with no warning—it made no sense." She likened tampering with economic data to disabling traffic lights: "Messing with economic data is like messing with the traffic lights and turning the sensors off. Cars don’t know where to go, traffic backs up at intersections." (Nexstar Media, CNN, Reuters)
McEntarfer also drew historical parallels, pointing to countries where the politicization of economic statistics led to dire outcomes. "The list of countries that have gone down this route, it’s not a good list: Argentina, Greece, Turkey. The resulting loss of trust in economic statistics led these countries to worsening economic crises, higher inflation and higher borrowing costs," she warned. "If we follow a similar path, all Americans will suffer the consequences." (Reuters)
The firing comes at a time when the BLS itself is under strain. According to Reuters, the agency’s workforce has been reduced by about 15% due to mass firings, voluntary resignations, early retirements, and hiring freezes as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink government. Some data collection for the Consumer Price Index basket has even been suspended in certain areas. Meanwhile, the White House has nominated E.J. Antoni, chief economist at The Heritage Foundation, to take McEntarfer’s place. (Reuters)
Economists across the political spectrum have expressed concern about the precedent set by McEntarfer’s dismissal. While the White House maintains that the move was necessary to improve data accuracy and modernize the agency, critics warn that undermining the independence of the BLS could erode trust in official statistics, with far-reaching implications for markets, policymakers, and ordinary Americans alike.
As McEntarfer concluded in her remarks, "Firing your chief statistician is a dangerous step... It has serious economic consequences." The stability of the nation’s economic reporting—and the trust it commands—now hangs in the balance, watched closely by economists and citizens alike.
