OPINION | REVIEW & OUTLOOK

The Bureau of Labor Denial

It isn’t easy being an economic adviser to President Trump.

By The Editorial Board
Aug. 3, 2025 at 4:52 pm ET

We had our say Saturday about President Trump’s dubious decision to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) after a lousy July jobs report, and the world has piled on. But it’s worth noting the burden of the advisers who have had to support the President’s claim that the data were “rigged.”

Start with Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who told Bloomberg TV early on Friday that, even though the jobs data was revised downward for May and June, “we’ve seen positive job growth.” Ok, sometimes in politics you have to look at a rotten apple and call it merely overripe. … But then Mr. Trump fired the BLS director, who reports to Ms. Chavez-DeRemer. She snapped to attention. “I agree wholeheartedly with @POTUS that our jobs numbers must be fair, accurate, and never manipulated for political purposes,” she tweeted.

So were the jobs data that were “positive” in the morning rigged by the afternoon? We realize the troops have to support the commander, but Ms. Chavez-DeRemer isn’t making a name for herself as a credible spokesperson for labor policy or data.

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As Allysia Finley writes nearby, the BLS job revisions are best explained by a decline in business response rates, not political bias. The reality of slowing job growth is clear to anyone paying attention, no matter the official statistics. Mr. Trump’s data denial is one more reason fewer Americans will trust the government.

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Appeared in the August 4, 2025, print edition as 'The Bureau of Labor Denial'.