U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick attends an interview, outside the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 11, 2025.
Kent Nishimura | Reuters
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick predicted the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ incoming Friday jobs report will be more accurate as a result of President Donald Trump firing the agency’s chief in August.
“I think they’ll get better,” Lutnick told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” when asked whether people should believe the BLS’ numbers are accurate when the latest monthly jobs report is released at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Trump had fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Aug. 1, hours after her agency reported that U.S. job growth had significantly slowed in July.
McEntarfer was appointed by former President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in 2024.
Lutnick said Friday morning that he believed the numbers will be more accurate “because you’ll take out the people who are just trying to create noise against the president.”
“The holdovers from the Biden administration” were “rooting against America and against Donald Trump, and that’s got to end,” Lutnick said in response to another question about whether the Trump administration now considers BLS credible.
“So he can’t replace somebody two weeks ago, and you expect fundamental change, but what you will get is an agency that’s on [Trump’s] side, just trying to do the best and put out the correct numbers,” he said.
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