US President Donald Trump has claimed that recent revisions to job data were “purposely” altered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) under its former commissioner to benefit his predecessor, Joe Biden. During a press event in the Oval Office, Trump, alongside economist Stephen Moore from the Heritage Foundation, presented charts that they claimed showed discrepancies in the data released under the Biden administration.

Moore argued that the BLS had overestimated job creation by 1.5 million jobs during Biden’s presidency, calling it a “gigantic error.” Trump, adding to the criticism, suggested that the revisions were not mistakes but intentional actions to distort the numbers.

Trump’s remarks followed the August revision of employment data, which saw job growth for May and June revised down by 258,000 positions. This prompted Trump to fire Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of labor statistics, who had only been confirmed for the role in January 2024. Trump described the numbers as “ridiculous” and expressed a lack of confidence in McEntarfer’s leadership.

The BLS regularly revises its employment figures, sometimes significantly, and these adjustments often lead to both upward and downward corrections. In the presentation, Moore also cited “unpublished census data” to highlight an increase in median household income under Trump’s new term, claiming an inflation-adjusted rise of $1,174 for the average American family.

Trump’s criticism of McEntarfer and the data revision comes after his earlier efforts to influence the Federal Reserve, where he had considered nominating Moore for a position on the central bank’s board but ultimately refrained due to concerns over Moore’s qualifications and past comments.

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