Erika McEntarfer, a veteran civil servant, has been dismissed by President Donald Trump following the release of a disappointing jobs report on Friday, sparking backlash from economists and officials over the potential politicization of federal labor data.
President Trump announced the firing in a social media post, stating that McEntarfer, who had been appointed under former President Joe Biden, was terminated “IMMEDIATELY.” He insisted that “important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes.”
Friday’s jobs report indicated a slowdown in hiring during July and revised previous months’ figures downward, triggering the president’s swift response.
McEntarfer, known for her expertise in labor economics, previously served at the Census Bureau’s Center for Economic Studies, the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy, and the White House Council of Economic Advisers in apolitical roles.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in social science from Bard College and a Ph.D. in economics from Virginia Tech. McEntarfer was nominated to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in 2023 and confirmed in January 2024 with an overwhelming 86-8 bipartisan Senate vote. Among those who supported her were JD Vance, then a senator and now Trump’s vice president, and Marco Rubio, now serving as secretary of state.
Her nomination had drawn praise from the Friends of the BLS—a group comprising former commissioners, statisticians, and economists—who cited her qualifications as ideal for maintaining the agency’s nonpartisan mission.
William Beach, who served as BLS commissioner from 2019 to 2023 after being appointed by Trump, criticized the dismissal as “groundless” and warned in a post on X that it “sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau.”
Sarah J. Glynn, former chief economist at the Labor Department, echoed those concerns, praising McEntarfer’s transparency and her willingness to clarify what interpretations could or could not be drawn from employment data.
