With a new, sobering jobs report out Friday , some current employees at the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) are seeking to reassure the American public that the government's economic data is reliable and worthy of their trust.

"Our job is to deliver economic data guided by law and statistical practice —not partisan whim," they wrote in a statement read aloud at a rally outside the Labor Department's Washington, D.C. headquarters on Friday morning by Helen Lurie. She is a member of the Stop DOL Cuts coalition, which is a group of former Labor Department employees advocating for current department staff. Lurie previously worked for the department's Women's Bureau.

NPR agreed not to name the BLS employees behind the statement because they fear reprisal from the Trump a

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