Trump Repeatedly Claims Employment Report Was Rigged: "Revised to Favor Radical Left"

On Social Media: "Same Manipulation as Before the Presidential Election"
Emphasizes Legitimacy of Dismissing Bureau of Labor Statistics Director
"Will Soon Appoint an Excellent Successor"

U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated on August 4 (local time) his claim that "last week's employment report was rigged" in response to the recent deterioration of U.S. employment indicators. After dismissing the official in charge immediately following the release of employment statistics on August 1, Trump has continued to criticize the employment data as being politically motivated, especially as concerns have emerged within the ruling Republican Party.

Reuters Yonhap News

On this day, President Trump asserted through his self-created social networking service, Truth Social, that the July employment report was manipulated, stating, "The numbers released before the presidential election were rigged in exactly the same way."

He said, "In both cases, there were massive, record-breaking revisions that favored the radical left Democrats," and criticized, "Such large adjustments were attempts to conceal and normalize manipulated political figures to make the great successes of the Republican Party less prominent." He added, "I will appoint an excellent successor," and continued, "Thank you for paying attention to this issue. Make America Great Again (MAGA)!"

Previously, on August 1, after the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the July employment report indicating a sharp slowdown in job growth, President Trump abruptly dismissed BLS Director Erica McEntaffer. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, nonfarm payrolls in July increased by only 73,000, which was significantly below the market expectation of 106,000. Additionally, the employment figures for May and June were revised downward to 19,000 and 14,000, respectively, a substantial decrease from the previously announced numbers of 144,000 and 147,000. As a result, the average monthly increase in nonfarm payrolls over the past three months remained at 35,000, a sharp decline from over 100,000 a year ago. Following the release of these 'employment shock' level indicators, analysts suggested that President Trump's trade policies have begun to have a significant impact on the overall labor market.

As the repercussions from McEntaffer's dismissal spread, President Trump also posted on social media the previous day, emphasizing the legitimacy of his decision by stating that McEntaffer "produced the worst errors in the past 50 years." He said, "Erica McEntaffer did the same thing right before the presidential election, inflating the job numbers to record highs, but I still won the election. Then, nearly one million jobs were revised as 'mistakes.' This is a scam," he strongly criticized.