September 5, 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics workers rally against Trump attacks on jobs data integrity
Staff report: BLS workers decry political attacks on data
🔐Ethics💰Economy👷Labor
Federal employees from the Bureau of Labor Statistics held a rally on Sept. 5, 2025.
The rally took place outside the Labor Department headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Current and former BLS staff, union representatives, and career economists spoke in defense of data integrity.
The President fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Aug. 1, 2025.
Officials said the firing followed public disputes over the administration's characterization of jobs data.
McEntarfer is a career economist who led the agency's statistical programs.
The removal prompted public criticism from economists and former officials about political interference.
The BLS reported that payrolls rose by 22,000 in Aug. 2025.
The report was released on Sept. 5, 2025, by the BLS' monthly Employment Situation.
Economists had forecast larger gains, prompting scrutiny and public debate.
The BLS said it will publish routine revisions to prior months, a standard statistical practice.
🔐Ethics💰Economy👷Labor
Test Your Knowledge
10
Q1
What does "You can trust the jobs report" frame assume?
Q2
How does a Project 2025 loyalist at BLS manipulating employment data affect monetary policy?
Q3
POLITICIZATION SEQUENCE: Track how Trump escalated from celebrating "June Boom" jobs data to firing the BLS commissioner within two months.
Q4
MARKET CONSEQUENCES: Rank these effects of politicized employment data from most to least damaging for economic decision-making.
Q5
NPR agreed not to name the BLS employees behind the statement because they "fear reprisal from the Trump administration." How does this journalistic decision affect press freedom under authoritarian pressure?
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Donald Trump
President of the United States
Erika McEntarfer
Former Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner
William Wiatrowski
Senior Bureau of Labor Statistics official
Bureau of Labor Statistics career employees
Career statisticians and economists at The Bureau of Labor Statistics