President Donald Trump has moved to downplay the latest U.S. jobs report due out on Friday, insisting the “real numbers” revealing the wellbeing of the American economy “will be in a year from now.”
The August report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is of particular significance because it is the first to be published since the president disputed the non-partisan bureau’s figures and dismissed its commissioner Erika McEntarfer. Trump replaced the Joe Biden-appointee with deputing commissioner William Wiatrowski on an acting basis.
Looking ahead to the latest data at a White House dinner for tech executives on Thursday evening, the president told reporters: “They come out tomorrow, but the real numbers that I’m talking about are going to be whatever it is, but will be in a year from now on.”
Trump said that when “huge, beautiful places, the palaces of genius… start opening up… I think you’ll see job numbers that are going to be absolutely incredible.” Precisely which projects he was referring to by those phrases was not immediately clear.
“Right now, it’s a lot of construction numbers, but you’re gonna see job numbers like our country has never seen.”
The president’s decision to remove McEntarfer came after he was reportedly incensed by July’s BLS report, which found that an average of just 35,000 new jobs had been added to the U.S. economy across May, June and July, implying a downturn in hiring and stagnant growth.
“I believe the numbers were phony, just like they were before the election, and there were other times,” Trump said at the time. “So you know what I did? I fired her. And you know what? I did the right thing.”
Her removal sparked an angry debate about the administration’s alleged attempts to politicize supposedly-neutral public institutions.
Some economists argued that U.S. data might no longer be considered trustworthy if it were administered by partisans professionally invested in appeasing the commander-in-chief.
August’s figures will provide an indication as to whether the stall seen earlier this summer has continued.
Trump would plainly prefer to see a return to the strong growth with which the year commenced, which saw an average monthly payroll gain of 123,000 from January to April, easily enough to keep the country’s unemployment rate down (it is currently at 4.2 percent).
Economists polled by financial data firm FactSet and cited by CBS News have projected that employers will be found to have added 80,000 jobs in August, with the unemployment rate expected to hold steady at its present level.
Another firm, Daco, has issued a less optimistic forecast, saying in a research note that it expects the month’s total to be at just 40,000.
“Looking ahead, the labor market slowdown is likely to persist,” the company said.
