President Donald Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after a report showed hiring slowed in July and was much weaker in May and June than previously reported.

Washington

President Donald Trump has dismissed the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) after recent job reports showed slower hiring and significant downward revisions for previous months. The White House attributed the decision to a history of inaccuracies and incompetence, highlighting that May and June job reports were revised down by a total of 258,000 jobs, which they claim influenced Federal Reserve policy.

Experts interviewed noted that it is not uncommon for job numbers to be revised after initial release and emphasized that the BLS commissioner does not generate the data but rather communicates it. The expert also stated that the reliability of job numbers should remain unchanged regardless of who leads the bureau.

Trump fires Bureau of Labor Statistics head

I think our numbers were wrong, just like I thought our numbers were wrong before the election. President Donald Trump has fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after the latest job report showed hiring for jobs slowed in July and was weaker in May and June than previously reported. Thank you so much for joining us tonight on Fox 9 and streaming on Fox Local. I'm Simone Bullridge. Fox 9's Leon Purvis joins us live in studio with what the White House is saying and what the numbers show tonight. So, Leon, explain what's going on here. Well, Simone, let's start with the White House. The White House is saying it's the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics has a history of inaccuracies and incompetence. In the statement, the White House says in part, BLS had to revise down May and June job reports by a combined 258,000 jobs. These previous faulty jobs reports enabled the Federal Reserve to continue its disastrous policy of keeping interest rates high. Now, let's look at the bigger picture here. It's not uncommon to see revised job numbers down. For example, looking at job numbers in June of last year, when Joe Biden was president, the number was 206,000. But then the second revision showed 179,000 and the final number, 118,000. So if you do the math, that's a loss of about 88,000 jobs. And tonight I spoke with one political expert about this. Presidents are expected to do something about the economy. Now, they don't have a lot of tools, especially with without Congress's support. And Trump wanted to be seen as having done something. Levine also said the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn't have anything to do with creating job numbers. They're essentially just the messenger. Levine believes whoever the replacement is, you can still trust the numbers. Live in the newsroom, Leon Purvis, Fox 9.

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