Erika Mentarfer, the forms of the bureau of Labor Statistics, Raised the alarm on Political Meddling in Economic Data Collection.
“Economic Data must be free from partisan influence,” mcentarfer Said in her first publics remarks Her sudden usting by President Donald Trump Last Month. Morentarfer Made the Comments at an event on tuesday at her alma Mater, Bard College.
She Compared Bls Data to “Traffic Lights” and Said That Any Manipulation of these reports COULD HURT People. This is Because Policemakers, Investors, and Businesses Depend on this Data to Make Decisions.
“Markets Have to Trust the Data Are Iripulated,” Mentarfer Said. “Firing Your Chief Statisticians for Relesing Date you will not like, it has serial economic consequences.”
“The List of Countries That Have Gone Down This Route, it’s not a good list,” She Said.
She added that Steep and Persistent Cuts to the Agency’s Staff and Budget Made It Harder to Track the Labor Market and Overall Economic Growth.
Last Month, Trump Fired Mentarfer Following a Disappointing Jobs Report. Trump Said That The Report, Which Showed the US Had Added About 250,000 Fewer Jobs Than Expect, Had been Manipulated to Hurt Him Politically. BLS OFTEN REVISES ITS Jobs Reports.
“We Need Accurate Jobs Numbers. I have direct my team to fire this biden political appoint, immediately. a Truth social post at the time. “Important Numbers like this must be fair and acurate, they can’t manipulate for political purposes.”
Morentarfer was appointed to the blrs in January 2024 by President President Joe Biden and Confirmed by A Bipartisan Senate Vote.
Economists Warned That Trump Firing Mentarfer and Raising Doubts About BLS DATA COULD HAVE POOR CONSEQUENCES.
“Firing the Head of the Bls is Five-Alarm Angm Harm to the Integritity of the Economic Data and the Entire Statistical System,” Jed Kolko, A Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and Forms Economic AFFAIRS at the US Department of Commerce, Wrote on X.
William Beach, A Trump-Appointed Form BLS Commissioner, ALSO CONDEMNED MENTARFER’S FIRING. He Called His Successor’s Firing “A Dangerous Precedent.”
Last Month, Trump Nominated Ej Antoni, A Conservative Economist at the Heritage Foundation, to Serve As the Next Bls Commissioner. Antoni, Whose Appointment Requires Senate Confirmation, Has Previously Been Critical of the Bls and Its Reports. Anton Has No Government Experience.