Why Accurate Labor Statistics Matter For The US Economy

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🗓️ 7 August 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

The president of the United States fired the head of the government's main economic statistics agency after a recent report showed a less than positive picture of U.S. employment.

The civil servant President Donald Trump fired was former Commissioner of Labor Statistics Erika McEntarfer, a labor economist nominated to the role in 2023 by President Joe Biden. The Senate overwhelmingly confirmed her in 2024. Commissioners often serve under multiple presidents.

The president defended his reasoning for the firing on social media – though he didn't provide evidence to back up his claims.

We discuss the consequences when the president fires the person at the head of the government's main agency for economic statistics.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for NPR and the following message come from the Walton Family Foundation, working to create access to opportunity for people and communities by tackling tough social and environmental problems.
0:11.5	More information is at waltonfamilyfoundation.org.
0:20.8	The president of the United States on Friday fired the head of the government's main economic statistics agency.
0:30.0	This after a report came out showing a more negative picture of U.S. employment than previous data suggested.
0:36.6	The civil servant President Trump fired was the Commissioner
0:39.2	of Labor Statistics, Erica McIntyre, a labor economist nominated to the role in 2023 by President Biden.
0:47.6	The Senate overwhelmingly confirmed her in 2024. Commissioners often serve under multiple presidents.
0:53.6	President Trump defended his reason for firing with no evidence to back up his claim.
0:59.4	We had no confidence. I mean, the numbers were ridiculous, what she announced, but that was just one negative number. All of the numbers seemed to be great.
1:08.0	But those numbers were not ridiculous, according to economists, and the numbers
1:12.4	and jobs reports are often revised after the fact. Today, we'll look at the consequences of a president
1:18.1	firing the head of the government's main agency for economic statistics. That firing raises new
1:23.8	concerns about political influence from the president on data in the future.
1:32.9	So what could that mean for the U.S. economy? We discuss all that and more after this short break.
1:37.7	I'm Jen White. You're listening to the 1A podcast. Stay with us. We've got a lot to get to. Are you looking for the inside scoop on Virginia politics?
1:48.0	Well, then tune in to the Virginia Press Room, a new podcast from the Virginia Public Access Project and VPM.
1:55.4	Every Monday morning, we'll be joined by top reporters from the Virginia Press Corps to break down this week's biggest headlines and give you a sneak peek at what's coming next.
2:05.2	Listen to the Virginia Press Room from VPAP and VPM, part of the NPR network.
2:13.6	Joining us from New York City is Allison Morrow.
2:16.2	She's a senior writer for CNN business. Allison,
2:19.0	welcome to the program. Thanks so much for having me. So Allison, we went over the top line there.
2:23.5	The president fired the commissioner who heads the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but walk us through
	...

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