Trump says will name new economics data official this week
A sign stands outside the US Department of Labor's headquarters on May 6, 2020, in Washington. (File photo: AP/Patrick Semansky)
WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump said on Monday (Aug 4) that he would pick an "exceptional replacement" to his labour statistics chief - after ordering her dismissal as a new report showed weakness in the US jobs market.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump reiterated, without immediately providing evidence, that an employment report released last Friday "was rigged".
He alleged that the official had manipulated data to diminish his administration's economic accomplishments.
"We'll be announcing a new (labour) statistician sometime over the next three to four days," Trump earlier told reporters.
He added on Monday: "I will pick an exceptional replacement."
US job growth missed expectations in July, figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed on Friday, and sharp revisions to hiring figures in recent months brought them to the weakest levels since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shortly afterwards, Trump ordered the removal of Erika McEntarfer, the department's commissioner of labour statistics.
Trump told reporters on Sunday: "We had no confidence. I mean, the numbers were ridiculous."
Trump added that the same official, just before the 2024 election, "came out with these phenomenal numbers on (Joe) Biden's economy".
He claimed those job numbers were "a scam".
The US added 73,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.2 per cent, the Department of Labor reported.
Hiring numbers for May were revised down from 144,000 to 19,000. The figure for June was shifted from 147,000 to 14,000.
This was notably lower than job creation levels in recent years. During the pandemic, the economy lost jobs.
The employment data points to challenges in the labour market as companies took a cautious approach in hiring and investment while grappling with Trump's sweeping and rapidly changing tariffs this year.
White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett defended McEntarfer's firing in an NBC News interview Saturday.
Asked if the president was prepared to fire anyone who reports data he disagrees with, Hassett said: "Absolutely not. The president wants his own people there so that when we see the numbers they are more transparent and more reliable."
Trump's decision was criticised as setting a "dangerous precedent" by William Beach, who previously held McEntarfer's post at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The National Association for Business Economics condemned her dismissal, saying large revisions in job numbers "reflect not manipulation, but rather the dwindling resources afforded to statistical agencies".
McEntarfer, a labour economist, had been in the commissioner role for just over a year after being confirmed by the US Senate in January 2024.
