President Donald Trump dismissed the commissioner of the Office of Labor Statistics on Friday after a new job report showed a great deceleration of hiring in recent months.
In a publication on social networks, Trump flew strong criticism and accusations without foundation in Erika Mtntarfer, a Biden designated one who was confirmed by the Senate in 2024.
“I have ordered my team to shoot this designated POLIÓN DE BIDEN, immediately,” Trump said, after accusing Mtirfer to have “falsified” statistics.
Mtientefer has served in the federal government for 20 years, including positions in the United States Census Office, the President’s Executive Office and the Treasury Department, according to the BLS, according to the BLS. website.
The United States added 73,000 jobs in July, according to BLS data. The figure marked a deceleration of 147,000 jobs added in the previous month. The unemployment rate increased up to 4.2%, keeping it by almost historical minimums.
The report provided new estimates for two previous months, significantly eliminating the estimation of the government of the added jobs in May and June. The new data indicated a remarkable deceleration in hiring, since Trump’s tariffs seized the last months.
Trump criticized Mtientefer for the revisions, saying without evidence that the reviews suggested that employment statistics had been “manipulated.” The BLS routinely reviews the estimates of the added works in the previous months.
In a monitoring publication on social networks on Friday afternoon, Trump said that the latest job report was “manipulated to make Republicans and I seem bad.”
Asked by journalists while leaving the White House on Friday about the reason for the dismissal of Mcentofer, Trump said he believes that the economy is fine and said that the last job numbers were “false.”
“I think the numbers were false as they were before the elections, and there were other times,” Trump said, pointing out a previous review in job numbers last year he said, without evidence, it was an attempt to benefit the Democrats who were going to the elections. “So you know what I did? I said goodbye. And do you know what? I did the right thing.”
Raymond Robertson, professor of Economics at Texas AANDM University, expressed alarm on the shot.
“This is disastrous,” Robertson said. “Having a president who refuses to accept the numbers and then shoot people because he does not like numbers … This is part of trying to fold the numbers to the political will.”
While the Trump administration selects a replacement, BLS’s attached commissioner, William Witrowski, will serve as an interim commissioner, according to a position in unknown of the Secretary of Labor Lori Chávez-Deremer.
Witrowski served as an interim commissioner of the BLS from January 2017 to March 2019, representing a large part of Trump’s first mandate, the bls website saying.
The Trump administration described downward reviews as an inopportune sign for the economy of the United States.
“Obviously, they are not what we want to see,” Stephen Miran, president of the Blanca House Economic Advisors Council, said Friday.
They look blamed for the weak performance in part to the uncertainty linked to the destination of Trump’s internal expense legislation, as well as the final result of the tariff policy. The Congress approved Trump’s expenditure measure earlier this month; More recently, Trump announced a new Round of Rates Thursday night.
“Both sources of uncertainty are resolved,” Look said. “We hope things become materially stronger from here, now that our policies begin to qualify in place.”
In May, the United States added 19,000 jobs, much lower than a previously estimated total of 139,000 jobs, said the BLS. While in June, the economy added only 14,000 jobs, checking a prior estimate of 147,000 jobs.
“It was not only a much weaker number than that of payroll prognosis, the downward monster reviews to the last two months inflict a great blow to the image of the robustness of the labor market,” he told ABC News in a statement by ABC News.
The job report comes days after a separate government report showed better economic growth than expected. American GDP increased at an annualized rate of 3% for three months that ended in June, according to the report.
The robust reading suggested that the economy has continued to avoid significant cooling induced by the rate. However, a unique statistical peculiarity linked to a drop in imports seemed to partially explain the increase.
Some key measures of the economy have proven to be resistant in recent months, challenging the fears of resurgent inflation and a possible economic recession. Inflation has increased for two consecutive months, but remains well below a peak reached in June 2022.
The hiring data arrive days after the Federal Reserve chose to maintain stable interest rates at its July meeting.
Five meetings and seven months have passed since the Fed adjusted the tight interest rates. The federal fund rate represents between 4.25% and 4.5%, preserving much of a strong increase imposed in response to an episode of inflation of the pandemic era.
The president of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, speaks with journalists after the regular meetings of the Federal Mercado Open Committee at the Fed on July 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Somodevilla/Getty chip
A significant slowdown in the labor market could lead to the Fed to grant greater consideration to a possible rate cut.
Trump has repeatedly urged the Central Bank to reduce interest rates, saying that policy would increase economic performance and reduce interest payments on government debt.
The president of the FED, Jerome Powell, on the contrary, has expressed some concern for a revival of inflation due to high rates. Importers generally transmit a part of the highest tax burden in the form of price increases.
Speaking at a press conference in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, Powell said the tariffs had begun to contribute to price increases for some goods, but the final impact of the policy remains uncertain.
“The highest tariffs have begun to show more clearly the prices of some goods, but their general effects on inflation and the economy cannot be seen yet,” Powell said. “Its effects on inflation could be short duration, but it is possible that inflation effects may be more persistent.”
He added: “We will do what we need to do to maintain inflation under control.”
ABC News Selina Wang contributed to this report.
