Commissioner of labor statistics fired after weaker-than-expected jobs figures | Hacker News Reader

Commissioner of labor statistics fired after weaker-than-expected jobs figures

cnbc.com

62 pointsbelter29 comments

Firing your subordinates because you don't like the number they report to you is how you obliterate the functioning machinery of government.

Hard to imagine that isn’t part of the goal at this point

Which is their goal

The numbers were super wrong for June and July. It could appear that they were fired for misleading numbers from the previous months.

Revisions are common.

What was his actual job description? Was he just the guy putting numbers into an excel sheet? Or was he supposed to enact policy to make these results better? Or was he suppose to portray objective truth? Or is he suppose to make up whatever bullshit makes the government sound like they aren't completely breaking everything? I guess we know which the next guy will be working toward.

What a depress timeline. I didn’t have the rebirth of Soviet style rule on my bingo card this year.

[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44760734

Same mindset as Stalin. Granted, not as severe outcome, but the neurons seem to work in similar patterns

Not as severe yet.

HN demonstrating they are no better, not even more intellectually honest, than MAGA itt. If all you know about this is the headline then you know less than nothing.

The missing piece here is that you haven't given any explanation or evidence to back this up.

God yeah the real truth is so obvious right? All the same, why don't you say what the real truth is, just so we know we're thinking about the same thing

They did the same with inflation numbers…

How do you know?

https://www.reuters.com/business/us-economic-data-quality-wo...

,"The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the principal agency for labor market and inflation data has, like other government departments, been hit by firings, resignations, early retirement and hiring freezes as part of a White House cost-cutting push."

So Trump caused the problem and is now using it to cast doubt on the numbers and justify firing someone?

Your original comment implied some neferious actions but you were trying to manipulate people

Trump's comments on the sacking....

"I was just informed that our country's 'Jobs Numbers' are being produced by a Biden appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfar, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, who faked the jobs numbers before the election to try and boost Kamala's chances of victory.

This is the same Bureau of Labor Statistics that overstated the jobs growth in March 2024 by approximately 818,000 and, then again, right before the 2024 presidential election, in August and September, by 112,000.

These were records – no one can be that wrong?"

Revisions are common due to the BLS's methodology. The BLS makes estimates based on initial survey data, then produces better numbers based on additional data as it comes in. The methodology is publicized here: https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/jlt/home.htm.

Trump does not like these numbers and has decided that he'd rather try to blame the messenger rather than accept this as a sign of a weakening economy. It also gives him an opportunity to install someone who might actually fudge the numbers by changing the methodology employed.

Good luck, folks.

This doesn't negate Trump's concerns. It's not that adjustments were made, it's the timing of them and the scale of them that tends to suggest a political motivation. You can not like the numbers simply because they are inaccurate. I'm in no position to make that judgement and neither are you.

But given the level of hatred of Trump and the lengths the Dems will go to attempt to discredit Trump we've seen so far, it's not hard to believe that this is just another example of the abuse of political power to take out an opponent.

This inaccuracy to revision cycle has been consistent for as long as I can remember. Everyone whose job it is to look at these numbers should understand that the initial numbers are typically overestimated.

I can only repeat my previous comment....

Yes, you can repeat your previous comment, but the data supports that this is nothing new.

The fact that adjustments have happened in the past in no way disproves the idea that recent estimates/adjustments may have been made in support of a political agenda.

You have suggested something without evidence. You have not put anything to argue or defend.

Nobody here has provided any evidence for anything they've stated either.

Apparently after the recent election, the jobs numbers were adjusted down by close to 800k, (meaning of course, they had been inflated by 800k prior to the election). This would be the largest adjustment in 50 years (outside of covid).

Discussed here

https://youtube.com/shorts/Mcpom9jUNJE

The evidence is clear as day that there's been a semester of back and forth in insane tariffs and fluctuations in the bond market that are introducing a level of self-induced uncertainty that trivially explains it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com