Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said in an interview on Sunday that the president’s firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner following a weak jobs report was due to politics, though he said government employment data should be improved.
Moynihan appeared on CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” and was asked whether he’s concerned about the president firing the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioner and whether he feels there is political pressure.
“Well, I think that’s more politics,” Moynihan said, adding that he thinks the agency’s data collection processes have seen lower levels of responses in recent years, which have contributed to revisions of the monthly jobs report.
“It’s 2025 and the data should be able to be – they use surveys and things like that, which, frankly, just aren’t as effective anymore. So if you look at the rate of people who respond to their surveys, it’s down from 60% level to 50% level,” he explained.
TRUMP ORDERS TERMINATION OF LABOR STATISTICS OFFICIAL AFTER JOBS REPORT AND DOWNWARD REVISIONS
Moynihan said Bank of America doesn’t use surveys to assess labor market data and instead relies on its data to gauge what businesses and consumers are doing.
“We watch what consumers do. We watch what businesses do. They can get this data, I think, other ways and I think that’s where the focus ought to be,” Moynihan said of the BLS.
“How do we get the data to be more resilient and more predictable and more understandable? Because what bounces around is restatements, and that was one of the largest restatements, going back five or seven years in the pandemic, five years in the pandemic, that creates doubt around it,” he added.
“And so I think the key is, let’s get – let’s spend some money. Let’s bring the information together. Let’s find where else in the government money is reported. We report millions and millions of data points to the government every day. The data is out there somewhere,” Moynihan said.
US JOB GROWTH COOLED IN JULY AMID GROWING ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY
The BLS reported its July jobs report on Friday, which showed the U.S. economy added 73,000 jobs last month – well below the gain of 110,000 jobs estimated by economists polled by LSEG.
The agency also reported what it called a “larger than normal” set of downward revisions to job gains the prior two months, with May’s gain of 144,000 jobs revised down by 125,000 to just 19,000 jobs added, while June’s gain of 147,000 jobs was revised down by 133,000 to 14,000.
Those two revisions left employment levels in May and June with 258,000 fewer jobs than previously reported. Goldman Sachs economists noted that it was the largest two-month revision for May and June since 1968 outside of recessions, based on the assumption that the U.S. isn’t currently in a recession.
President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to announce that he directed his administration to fire BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, accusing her of manipulating the jobs figures for political purposes.
WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIST BACKS TRUMP FIRING LABOR STATS HEAD, HITS ‘PARTISAN PATTERN’ IN JOBS DATA: ‘PROPAGANDA’
“I was just informed that our Country’s ‘Jobs Numbers’ are being produced by a Biden Appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, who faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory,” Trump wrote. “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. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified,” Trump continued. “Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes. McEntarfer said there were only 73,000 Jobs added (a shock!) but, more importantly, that a major mistake was made by them, 258,000 Jobs downward, in the two prior months. Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative.”
TRUMP CALLS FIRED BLS COMMISSIONER’S JOB NUMBERS THE ‘BIGGEST MISCALCULATIONS IN OVER 50 YEARS’
McEntarfer was confirmed by the Senate as BLS commissioner in January 2024 on a broadly bipartisan vote of 86-8. Current vice president and then-Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, was among the senators voting in support of her confirmation.
Trump said in comments over the weekend that his administration will “announce a new statistician sometime over the next 3, 4 days,” adding that “we had no confidence, the numbers were ridiculous that she announced” and that “it’s a scam, in my opinion.”
The president on Monday continued to claim that the jobs report was manipulated, writing on Truth Social:
“Last weeks Job’s Report was RIGGED, just like the numbers prior to the Presidential Election were Rigged. That’s why, in both cases, there was massive, record setting revisions, in favor of the Radical Left Democrats. Those big adjustments were made to cover up, and level out, the FAKE political numbers that were CONCOCTED in order to make a great Republican Success look less stellar!!! I will pick an exceptional replacement. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAGA!”
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