When Trump and the Bureau of Labor Statistics First Clashed Over Jobs Numbers
Dozens of emails related to a 2018 Trump tweet over the monthly jobs report are a good reminder that the president’s relationship with the Department of Labor unit has long been acrimonious.
President Donald Trump stands next to a poster which reads "Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Overestimates Biden Jobs by Nearly 1.5 Million" in the Oval Office on August 07, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty Images North AmericaWelcome back to another edition of FOIA Files. This week, I’m resurfacing dozens of emails from my FOIA archives that I obtained in 2018 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These seven-year-old documents, some that were previously unreleased, are timely again! They relate to a tweet Trump posted in 2018 ahead of a monthly jobs report, and the stunned reactions by officials inside BLS, as it's known. The emails are a reminder that Trump’s relationship with the Department of Labor unit as it relates to employment data has long been acrimonious. If you’re not already getting FOIA Files in your inbox, sign up here.
A few weeks ago, Trump—in classic Trump fashion—abruptly fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer via a post on Truth Social, because he was outraged with BLS’s latest jobs report, which came in below estimates. Trump accused McEntarfer, a Biden appointee, of manipulating the data for political purposes. In another post, he said BLS “RIGGED” the jobs numbers “in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.”