WASHINGTON
US President Donald Trump said Friday that he has ordered the dismissal of the expert in charge of the Labor Department's statistics division after the agency's data showed that job growth has been reduced to a crawl.
Trump accused Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of labor statistics, of being a political appointee of former President Joe Biden who "faked" the numbers.
"She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes," Trump said on social media.
"The Economy is BOOMING under “TRUMP” despite a Fed that also plays games, this time with Interest Rates, where they lowered them twice, and substantially, just before the Presidential Election, I assume in the hopes of getting “Kamala” elected – How did that work out? Jerome “Too Late” Powell should also be put 'out to pasture,'" he added.
The Labor Department earlier Friday reported that the US economy added a far less than expected 73,000 jobs in July, significantly less than expectations of 106,000. It further significantly downgraded estimates for the past two months, cutting a combined 258,000 estimated jobs.
Unemployment rose to 4.2%.
The announcement, coupled with Trump's decision to escalate tariffs on dozens of countries amid his ongoing trade war, sent markets sharply lower.
The Dow shed over 1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dipped more than 2.1% in late-day trading.