Firing BLS chief is “economically dangerous,” former Labor Department chief economist says
President Donald Trump’s firing of a top Labor Department data official is both a danger to democracy and to the economy, Heidi Shierholz, who served as the agency’s chief economist in the Obama administration, said in a statement.
Shierholz, now president of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, called Trump’s removal of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer because he didn’t like the July jobs report “a move straight of an autocratic playbook.”
But it also has serious consequences for the economy, which “runs on reliable data.”
Union activity has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute. The report noted that petitions for union elections more than doubled between 2021 and 2024.
Despite the increase in unionization efforts, however, the percentage of U.S. workers who belong to a union has been declining in recent years, from 11.2% in 2023 to 11.1% in 2024, or a decrease of about 170,000 unionized workers, according to the EPI.
“To me, today’s jobs report is what entering a recession looks like,” Josh Bivens, chief economist of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said in a statement. “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.”
“I think we’re, you know, on track for some real pain coming from trade policy if we see all of those tariffs slam into effect,” said Josh Bivens, chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average cost for center-based infant care in the U.S. reached $12,350 annually in 2024, making these budget-friendly strategies essential.
“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,” Heidi Shierholz, the president of the center-left Economic Policy Institute and former chief economist of the Labor Department, told the Post. “It’s like trying to drive a car blindfolded.”