BLS quietly postpones major consumer report after Trump fires director

The BLS has delayed its annual consumer spending report with no reason given, days after Donald Trump fired Erika McEntarfer as head of the agency.

The notice appeared late Friday on the Bureau’s website and said only, “We will update users when more information is available.”

Erika, who was nominated by President Joe Biden in 2023 and confirmed by the Senate the next year, was removed just hours after her team reported disappointing July job numbers and downward revisions for the two previous months.

She found out about her firing through a two-line email from the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. “To be honest, I didn’t actually believe I had been fired,” Erika said Tuesday during an event at Bard College.

She only checked her inbox after a reporter called her for comment about Trump’s post on X demanding she be fired.

Trump calls numbers rigged, White House removes Erika after jobs release

The jobs report that triggered the blowup was sent out on August 1. Erika briefed the Labor Department at 8 a.m. that morning and told them late-reporting firms had dragged the data down.

“I explained to the Secretary that the negative skew in job growth among the late reporting firms was an unusual event, but not an unprecedented one,” she said.

She added that other labor market data looked stable, and this wasn’t necessarily a sign of recession. Still, she said the room was silent.

“The faces around the table were glum,” Erika said. “I asked if anyone had any questions on the revisions before we moved on to the July numbers. There were none, so we moved on.”

By 2 p.m. that day, Trump had posted online saying the numbers were manipulated. Later that afternoon, he announced that Erika was no longer commissioner.

On TV, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer described the revisions as “unexpected,” and said they were mostly tied to education and seasonal roles. Later, on X, she backed the firing.

“I agree wholeheartedly with @POTUS that our jobs numbers must be fair, accurate, and never manipulated for political purposes,” she wrote.

Since Erika’s removal, the BLS has made additional revisions. A benchmark update released on September 9 was met with more White House criticism, calling it “another blunder in the lengthy history of inaccuracies and incompetence at BLS.”

Economists defended the revisions, saying they’re standard because businesses often submit data late. The BLS usually updates the numbers as more information comes in to make them more precise.

Trump has picked EJ Antoni, the Heritage Foundation’s chief economist, to take over the job. EJ is known for his MAGA views and has drawn criticism from economists across party lines for his lack of experience.

His Senate confirmation is still pending, and one Republican senator has already voiced “extreme reservations” about supporting him.

Budget issues and staffing cuts worsen BLS operations

The BLS has struggled for years with staff shortages and tight budgets. These problems didn’t start with Trump but have gotten worse during his second term.

The agency now relies on a statistical method to fill in the gaps in inflation tracking. Only recently has it been allowed to hire more workers to collect price data again.

The Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General opened a review last week into the BLS’ “challenges” around data collection and employment revisions.

Erika had over 20 years of federal experience before her firing, including time at the Census Bureau, Treasury, and Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers.

She called Trump’s move a “dangerous step” with “serious economic consequences.” She ended her speech by saying, “That’s an attack on the independence of an institution arguably as important as the Federal Reserve for economic stability.”

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