Former BLS commissioner says firing her was a ‘dangerous’ step for the US economy

Former Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer was dismissed by President Donald Trump after a disappointing jobs report. US Bureau of Labor Statistics/Reuters Annandale-on-Hudson, New York —

Erika McEntarfer, former commissioner at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is speaking publicly for the first time since President Donald Trump fired her last month after a disappointing jobs report he claimed without evidence had been “rigged.”

“August 1 was like any other first Friday of the month when the job numbers come out, and my quiet and usually obscure little corner the government goes about its business of telling political leaders what these data tell us about the state of the economy,” she said.

“Except, by the end of that day, I had been very publicly fired b