Trump Directs Team To Fire BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer After Jobs Report Revises May, June Numbers Downward By 258,000

President Donald Trump on Friday said he has directed his team to fire the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Dr. Erika McEntarfer, after the agency revised jobs numbers downwards by 258,000 for May and June.

Earlier on Friday, the BLS released the jobs report for July, stating that only 73,000 nonfarm payrolls were added during the month.

In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said that McEntarfer will be replaced with a qualified and competent person.

“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,” President Trump said in the post.

Earlier on Friday, the July jobs report came in weaker than expected, with nonfarm payrolls rising by 73,000 during the month, lower than the Dow Jones estimate of 100,000.

According to the BLS, June nonfarm payrolls were revised downward by 133,000 and May by 125,000. The original reports showed an addition of 147,000 and 144,000, respectively.

The unemployment rate also rose during July to 4.2%, from 4.1% in June. People who currently want a job but don’t have one stood at 6.18 million in July, up from 6.03 million in June and 5.99 million in May.

U.S. equities declined sharply in Friday’s trading session after President Trump unleashed tariffs globally in the range of 10% and 41%, with the weak jobs report dampening investor sentiment.

At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was down 1.5%, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) fell 1.8%. Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘bullish’ territory.

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