A previous leader of a government body that wasremoved by President Donald Trumphas cautioned that he committed a 'hazardous' error by dismissing her.
Erika McEntarfer was openly dismissed as the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics last month, after Trump claimed she was fabricating job figures to undermine him.look bad politically.
He cited McEntarfer's revisions made to the May and June employment reports, which together indicated that the US lost 258,000 jobs. After the revision, June's total remained at 14,000 and May's at 19,000 — essentially unchanged.
For the first time, McEntarfer spoke publicly following her removal on Tuesday, and she criticized the president.
"Dismissing your chief statistician is a risky move," she said to students at her former university, Bard College, according to CNN.That's an assault on the autonomy of an organization arguably as significant as theFederal Reserve for economic stability.
"It carries significant economic impacts, but the fact that they did this without any notice - it didn't make sense," she remarked regarding her abrupt dismissal.
Tampering with economic data is similar to interfering with traffic signals and disabling the sensors: vehicles are unsure of their direction, leading to congestion at crossroads.
She subsequently highlighted what she referred to as "not a good list" of other nations where statisticians have lost their jobs due to unfavorable data, such as Argentina, Greece, and Turkey,The Wall Street Journal states.
"The declining confidence in economic data prompted these nations to face more severe economic downturns, increased inflation, and higher interest rates," she mentioned.
McEntarfer also mentioned her brief tenure at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, following a significant portion of her career dedicated to enhancing statistical accuracy at the Census Bureau.
She was selected to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics by former President Joe Biden in 2023, during her time as a member of Biden's Council of Economic Advisers.
When she assumed leadership at the bureau, McEntarfer expressed her desire to enhance the data on employment and inflation and aimed to "support BLS in updating its data gathering methods," as the organization currently uses phone calls to inquire about individuals' employment situations and dispatches staff to manually check prices on retail shelves.
However, McEntarfer soon discovered herself protecting the department from meddling by the Department of Government Efficiency.
I transitioned from a broad-scale reformer to being on the defensive very quickly," she recalled, mentioning that she had to deal with "more crises in a week than you typically encounter in a year under normal circumstances" and maintaining the agency's operations turned into a "perpetual tightrope walk.
The office had already faced challenges due to limited funds, insufficient personnel, and a reduced number of replies to its extensive economic surveys that it relies on for data collection.
Nevertheless, McEntarfer mentioned that she aimed to generate reliable information.
"I can confirm the precision and impartiality of the work done at the agency until the time I was dismissed," she said to the students on Tuesday.
Even on the day she was dismissed, which she described as a typical Friday, McEntarfer remained loyal to her data.
She described how she encountered officials from the Trump administration on that day, and attempted to clarify to them that the downward adjustments were essential for the May and June employment figures because companies that submitted their responses late to the agency's payroll survey reported unexpectedly weak hiring.
This occurs "when the economy slows," she mentioned, adding that companies may have responded late to the survey "as they are too occupied with staying afloat."
White House officials looked somber while she was speaking, but McEntarfer mentioned that they did not pose any inquiries.
She only discovered that same day that she had been terminated when a journalist contacted her for a response regarding President Trump's post on Truth Social.
Within it, the president alleged that McEntarfer had 'fabricated' job numbers prior to the 2024 election in an attempt to 'enhance Kamala's prospects of winning,' in a fierce post on Truth Social that offered no proof for the remarkable claim.
"We require precise employment statistics. I have instructed my team to terminate this Biden political appointee, without delay. She will be substituted by someone significantly more capable and suitable," he said.
"I think the figures were fake – similar to how they were prior to the election," Trump stated, without offering proof for his assertion. "You're aware of what I did? I terminated her," he mentioned.
I mentioned, 'Who is the person who does these numbers... She provided numbers that were extremely beneficial for theDemocrats. It was as if it was hard to believe. And shortly after the election, she adjusted those numbers,' Trump mentioned, referring to the updated figures.
Initially, McEntarfer stated she found her dismissal hard to accept because although the president had publicly hinted for months withremoving Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell from his position, McEntarfer did not expect to become a subject of Trump's anger.
I had always been cautious about not boring my family and friends by discussing my unusual job too much," she said on Tuesday. "Suddenly, the entire world was talking about it.
At the close of the day, I had been openly dismissed by the U.S. president and was heading towards becoming well-known.
Following McEntarfer's departure, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is currently headed by Acting Commissioner William Wiatrowski, whom McEntarfer commended on Tuesday as 'one of the best public officials I have ever collaborated with.'
However, regarding the future, it is a time of uncertainty.
Trump's nominee to replace McEntarfer, E.J. Antoni, serves as a senior economist at the right-leaning Heritage Foundation, lacks any previous government background, and has beenaccused of spreading inaccuracies in his work.
Economist Stan Veuger, a senior fellow at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, for instance, told AxiosThat Antoni's work at Heritage has often involved basic mistakes or illogical decisions that consistently influence his results in a biased, one-sided manner.
"The pieces and tweets he has shared are likely the most full of mistakes among any think tank economist today. I hope to see improved work at BLS," another economist, Jessica Riedl from the Manhattan Institute, commented.
If Antoni is now successful in taking over as the head of the bureau, he intends to 'stop releasing the monthly job reports' altogether, he mentioned in an interview with Fox Business.
He mentioned that the agency should rathercontinue releasing the more accurate, but less up-to-date, quarterly information.
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