Ongoing disaster and source of embarrassment: Trump's Dismissal of the BLS Commissioner
In a move that has sparked controversy and concern, the Trump administration has fired Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), over allegations of political manipulation and incompetence related to a weak jobs report.
The White House accused McEntarfer of rigging or inaccurately reporting the July jobs numbers to make President Trump look bad. However, the administration has yet to provide any evidence to support these claims.
The firing has been widely criticised as a blatant attack on the independence and credibility of a nonpartisan federal statistical agency. Janet Yellen, former Treasury secretary and Federal Reserve chair, described the firing as behaviour “you would only expect to see in a banana republic.”
Economists and experts have emphasised that the BLS operates independently and is highly respected for providing accurate data crucial for public and private economic decision-making. They fear that firing a commissioner over unfavourable but accurate data undermines trust in government statistics, potentially damaging investor confidence and harming the economy.
Moreover, critics have noted that political manipulation allegations lack evidence, and the BLS had been producing reliable data even under Trump’s administration. The response has highlighted a dangerous trend in the politicization and erosion of federal data infrastructure under the Trump administration, with budget cuts and staffing issues further weakening agencies like the BLS.
Economist Paul Krugman has criticised the administration’s attempt to spin the economic situation positively after firing McEntarfer, noting factual errors in their presentation and describing Trump’s approach as transparently corrupt and totalitarian in nature.
The initial estimates of nonfarm payroll employment have gotten more accurate over time, and economists have praised the work of the BLS, explaining that the monthly jobs numbers are always revised in subsequent months as more survey responses come in. An analysis by the head of the Yale Budget Lab shows that the revisions to the monthly jobs numbers have gotten smaller over the years, not larger.
The advance estimate for third-quarter GDP in October 2012 came in at 2%, which only modestly beat expectations and was later revised up to 3.1%. Economist Veronique de Rugy, who served as an economic advisor to the 2012 Romney campaign, lamented the discourse and expressed concern about policy experts saying things that are misrepresentations.
It's not clear how installing a lackey on top of BLS could immediately affect the data, but President Trump has other levers to pull if he's not happy with his economic feedback, such as firing Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
A group of statisticians, including two former BLS commissioners, issued a joint statement defending the BLS and criticizing the firing of the commissioner. The GDP numbers are produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, not the BLS. President Donald Trump had a meeting in the Oval Office with right-wing economist Stephen Moore, who presented charts showing job numbers during Joe Biden’s presidency, which Trump used to justify firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
In conclusion, the firing of the BLS commissioner has been met with widespread condemnation from economists and experts, who view it as an attack on the independence and credibility of a nonpartisan federal statistical agency. The administration's justification lacks credible evidence, and the move is seen as part of a larger pattern of politicizing federal data under the Trump administration.
- The controversy over Erika McEntarfer's firing as commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has extended to general news, crime-and-justice, politics, and policy-and-legislation discussions, as critics view it as an attack on the independence and credibility of a nonpartisan federal statistical agency.
- The administration's alleged political manipulation of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data isn't limited to war-and-conflicts or business matters; economists are concerned that undermining trust in government statistics could damage investor confidence and harm the economy.
- In the realm of business and policy-and-legislation, the firing of the BLS commissioner has also sparked debate about the importance of accurate and unbiased data provided by federal statistical agencies like the BLS, which are crucial for informed decision-making.
