Heidi Shierholz, who served as the chief economist at the Department of Labor under President Barack Obama and now runs the nonpartisan labor think tank the Economic Policy Institute, joins us to talk about the BLS, the important data it compiles, and what the hell a revision is.
Crooked Media What A Day Podcast
August 5, 2025
Economists have warned that the sharp drop in immigrants coming into the U.S., and Trump’s aggressive deportation policies, could have detrimental effects on the country’s economy.
The Economic Policy Institute wrote in July that Trump’s deportation efforts will reduce jobs for immigrants and U.S.-born workers alike, as deportations will “[threaten] the ability of employers to generate revenue and pay for business expenses like rent, machinery, and even the labor of any remaining workers.”
Time Magazine
August 5, 2025
“Today’s jobs report is what entering a recession looks like,” wrote Josh Bivens, chief economist at the labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute, on Friday. “Could we pull up? Sure. But if we look back and end up dating an official recession that starts 3-6 months from now, this is what it would look like today — rapid softening/deterioration in the labor market.”
LA Times
August 5, 2025
“The president’s belief that the BLS commissioner personally ‘produced’ the jobs numbers is preposterous and shows a complete misunderstanding of how government statistical agencies operate,” noted Heidi Shierholz, the president of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute and a former chief economist at the Department of Labor, in a post about McEntarfer’s firing.
She added, “These data are the product of careful work by hundreds of expert economists, statisticians and civil servants following transparent, well-established methodologies.”
CBS Moneywatch
August 5, 2025
“To me, today’s jobs report is what entering a recession looks like,” Josh Bivens, chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, wrote after the Friday report.
CNBC
August 5, 2025
Black women in particular have seen a dramatic increase in unemployment over the past year, from 5.5% to 6.3%. Certain states are also seeing exceptionally high unemployment rates for Black people, with some, including Michigan, hovering near 10%, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
USA Today
August 5, 2025
Cites Federal Policywatch post: “Trump fires 17 Inspectors General”: https://www.epi.org/policywatch/trump-fires-17-inspectors-general/
Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
August 4, 2025
Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute , a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank, noted in a blog post that “the law is designed to trigger a massive redistribution of income to the wealthy,” not to benefit the working class, as the Trump administration claims.
Univision
August 4, 2025
“The economy runs on reliable data,” said Economic Policy Institute President Heidi Shierholz, a former Labor Department economist who served in the administration of President Barack Obama. “Businesses use these numbers to decide whether to hire or expand. The Federal Reserve uses them to set interest rates. State and local governments use them to plan budgets. If policymakers and the public can’t trust the data – or suspect the data are being manipulated – confidence collapses and reasonable economic decision-making becomes impossible. It’s like trying to drive a car blindfolded.”
U.S. News & World Report
August 4, 2025
Heidi Shierholz, the Labor Department’s chief economist from 2014 to early 2017 during President Barack Obama’s administration, said the charge from Trump “is outrageous and shows a total misunderstanding of how government statistical agencies work” to compile data, she said.
USA Today
August 4, 2025