Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers criticized President Donald Trump for accusing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of manipulating job numbers. Calling it “a preposterous charge,” Summers rejected Trump’s claim, which was made without any supporting evidence.
The interview
Speaking on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Summers emphasized that altering jobs data is not something a single person could do. “These numbers are put together by teams of literally hundreds of people following detailed procedures that are in manuals. There’s no conceivable way that the head of the BLS could have manipulated this number,” Summers said. “The numbers are in line with what we’re seeing from all kinds of private sector sources. This is the stuff of democracies giving way to authoritarianism. … Firing statisticians goes with threatening the heads of newspapers. … It goes with launching assaults on universities. It goes with launching assaults on law firms that defend clients that the elected boss finds uncongenial. This is really scary stuff.”
Trump’s response
Trump’s latest accusation followed the release of a disappointing jobs report, along with downward revisions to job growth in previous months. In response, Trump announced the firing of Erika McEntarfer, the BLS commissioner, accusing her of politically motivated data manipulation. “This is the same Bureau of Labor Statistics that overstated the Jobs Growth in March 2024 by approximately 818,000 and, then again, right before the 2024 Presidential Election, in August and September, by 112,000. These were Records — No one can be that wrong? We need accurate Jobs Numbers,” Trump posted at the time.
Historical context
Stephanopoulos asked Summers whether McEntarfer’s firing could be seen as “shocking but not surprising.” Summers responded by explaining the move in historical context. “This is way beyond anything Richard Nixon ever did.” He also expressed concern over the lack of broader reaction within the government. “I’m surprised that other officials have not responded by resigning themselves, as took place when Richard Nixon fired people lawlessly,” he said.
Interest rate cuts
The conversation shifted to the broader implications of the latest jobs data. Stephanopoulos noted that the weak report could increase the likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in September. Summers offered his take, explaining, “I think it told us that the economy is closer to stall speed than we thought that it was. The July number was weak. The big deal is the downwards revision for the two months before that. And that means there’s a real possibility that we’re in a stall speed kind of economy, which means we could tip over into recession. … That wouldn’t be my prediction right now, but the risk is greater certainly than it was before. And it’s a risk we don’t need to be taking, but it’s a risk that’s made more serious by these tariffs.”
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Author: Isabella Torregiani
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