Washington (Reuters) – The main economic advisers of the White House defended the dismissal by Donald Trump on Sunday from the head of labor statistics (BLS), Erika Mcentarfer, rejecting criticism that this decision by the American president could undermine confidence in official economic data in the United States.
The American representative in trade Jamieson Greer told CBS that Donald Trump had “real concerns” concerning the data, while Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said that the president was “right to call for a new management”.
Kevin Hassett said on Fox News that the main concern concerned the BLS report on Friday, according to which 258,000 less jobs than previously announced were created in May and June.
Donald Trump accused Erika MCENTARFER to fuck the figures on employment, without providing evidence of possible data handling. The BLS compiles the job on employment, very monitored, as well as data on consumer and production prices.
The Statistical Agency has not provided an explanation for the modification of the data but noted that “the monthly revisions result from additional reports received from companies and government agencies since the latest published estimates”, as well as a new calculation of “seasonal factors”.
The dismissal of Erika Mcentarfer fueling growing concerns about the quality of American economic data published by the federal government.
He also intervenes following a series of new American customs rights imposed on dozens of business partners, which has dropped the world’s stock markets.
“I think what we need is a new look at BLS, someone who can clean up,” said Kevin Hassett.
“He shoots the messenger”
In an interview with the CBS channel, Jamieson Greer has recognized that there were always revisions of employment figures, adding however that they sometimes go “in really extreme directions”.
Opponents of the dismissal of Erika MCENTARFER, including former BLS leaders, criticized Donald Trump’s decision and asked the Congress to investigate, highlighting the risk of loss of confidence in a respected statistical organization.
It is impossible for a BLS response to be able to compensate for employment figures, said William Beach, formerly himself at the head of the statistical office and co-president of the group “Friends of the BLS”.
“Each year, we revised the figures. When I was a commissioner, we revised the figures for 500,000 jobs during President Trump’s first term,” he said on CNN.
“And why do we do that? Because companies are created or disappear, and we don’t really know it during the year, until we bring together with a real complete count of all businesses.”
Democrats and at least two Republican senators also criticized Donald Trump’s decision.
“This is an absurd accusation. These figures are established by teams made up of hundreds of people who follow detailed procedures in textbooks,” Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary, on ABC on Sunday.
“What does a bad leader do when he receives bad news? He shoots the messenger,” said Chuck Schumer, head of the senatorial minority, during a speech on Friday.
Jamieson Greer and Kevin Hassett also declared on Sunday that most of the customs duties announced in recent days would probably remain in force rather than being reduced as part of the negotiations in progress.
(Doina Chiac, Jasper Ward and Douglas Gillison, French version Benjamin Mallet)
by Appino Chiac and Jasper Ward