President Donald Trump announced Friday that he had dismissed a senior economic official, accusing her of distorting employment statistics for political gain after new figures indicated growing weaknesses in the U.S. job market.
The decision to remove Commissioner of Labor Statistics Erika McEntarfer came hours after the release of July’s jobs report, which revealed job growth fell short of expectations. Additionally, downward revisions to hiring data for the prior two months marked the weakest performance since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Trump did not hold back in his criticism, alleging McEntarfer had “faked” jobs data to boost Democrats’ chances of victory in the recent presidential election.
“McEntarfer said there were 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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, citing July’s updated employment figures.
“Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative,” he added.
Still, Trump insisted that under his leadership, the U.S. economy remains strong, calling it “booming.”
According to the Department of Labor, the country added 73,000 jobs in July, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2% from 4.1%. Notably, hiring figures for May were revised down sharply—from 144,000 to 19,000—while June’s numbers fell from 147,000 to 14,000.
These numbers reflect a slowdown compared to recent years and underscore continued volatility since the pandemic’s economic impact.
The broader economic environment has also been affected by Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which have caused businesses to proceed more cautiously with hiring and investment.
Rising tariff levels on a range of imports—including steel, aluminum, and automobiles—have increased operational costs for many companies, prompting some to pass those expenses on to consumers.
Economists say the weak jobs report places added pressure on the Federal Reserve as it weighs potential interest rate cuts.
“This is a gamechanger jobs report. The labor market is deteriorating quickly,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. She noted that “75% of those jobs [in July] were in one sector: health care.”
Since May, the economy has added an average of just 35,000 jobs per month, highlighting an ongoing trend of sluggish employment growth.
Long added, “The economy needs certainty soon on tariffs. The longer this tariff whiplash lasts, the more likely this weak hiring environment turns into layoffs.”
Whether relief is on the horizon remains uncertain. On Thursday night, Trump ordered a fresh round of steep tariffs on multiple countries—set to take effect within a week.
