Trump Claims the Jobs Report Was Rigged. Was It?

He does himself and his party no favors by waving away economic reality—as Biden did with inflation

By Allysia Finley. Excerpts:

"Mr. Trump sniffs a deep-state conspiracy. “Today’s Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad,” the president huffed on Truth Social. Where’s the evidence? There is none." 

"the Senate confirmed Ms. McEntarfer 86-8 last year." [Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer]

"the jobs numbers have become more volatile in recent years because of declining business survey response rates."

"The bureau surveys some 631,000 workplaces by a variety of media, including phone, web and even fax. Many businesses don’t respond every month, but the BLS continues to collect data and revise its findings over the next two months."

"The survey’s overall response rate has declined to 43% from 60% before the pandemic"

"The jobs estimate can also be off in either direction by 136,000 in any given month because of statistical chance. Such variations tend to even out over several months."

"the bureau last August revised its job estimates down by 818,000 over the 12 months that ended in March 2024. If Ms. McEntarfer were trying to help Kamala Harris, why would she have done this before the election?"