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Purged BLS leader on the "surprisingly resilient" US economy
Erika McEntarfer talks to PN nearly one year after her firing.
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Last August, then-Commissioner of Labor Statistics Erika McEntarfer was thrust into the headlines when Trump fired her for not cooking the books.
“I was just informed that our Country’s ‘Jobs Numbers’ are being produced by a Biden Appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, who faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory,” Trump huffed on Truth Social. “I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified.”
Needless to say, McEntarfer, who worked as an economist for the federal government for more than two decades, wasn’t manipulating anything to hurt Trump, whose policies of brutal mass deportation and self-destructive tariffs did plenty of harm all on their own. But she became a scapegoat as Americans soured on Trump’s economic stewardship and the term “stagflation” reentered the lexicon.
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Trump’s approval ratings have gone nowhere but down since, even as the macroeconomy has shown some signs of strength. The May jobs report beat expectations, marking three straight strong months of jobs data. And while economic growth has come nowhere near the absurd predictions made by administration hype men like Howard Lutnick, the numbers haven’t been a disaster. Americans, however, still think the economy is terrible — economic sentiment is near record lows.
So as we head toward a midterm campaign cycle where affordability remains a top issue for voters, we checked in with McEntarfer to get her expert perspective on where things stand.
“The data can often surprise you. The US economy has been, over the last six years, I’d say, surprisingly resilient,” she told us.
But McEntarfer added that there’s a gap between the data and sentiment that remains hard to explain.
“Ther