'Trump destroys the credibility of US statistics,' says Pochmann.
Following poor data on job creation in the US, Donald Trump ordered the dismissal of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
247 - The president of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), Marcio Pochmann, issued a public warning this Saturday (2) about the risks of political interference in official statistics, commenting on the order from the President of the United States, Donald Trump, to dismiss Erika McEntarfer, head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The episode occurred after the release of negative numbers on employment in the country. “How to destroy the credibility of a country’s official statistics,” Pochmann wrote in a social media post, directly criticizing the stance of the US president.
The statement by the president of IBGE comes a day after Trump used his Truth Social platform to accuse McEntarfer of manipulating the data from the monthly employment report released on Friday (1st), which pointed to a sharp slowdown in job creation in the United States.
The BLS report indicated the creation of only 73 new jobs in July, a number far below expectations. Furthermore, the data for the two previous months were drastically revised downwards: from 125 to 19 in May and from 147 to 14 in June. These revisions displeased Trump, who insinuated that the numbers were deliberately manipulated for political reasons, since McEntarfer was appointed during the administration of former Democratic President Joe Biden.
Despite the accusations, the president presented no evidence to support his claim.
Pochmann defends statistics as a democratic asset. In commenting on the case, Marcio Pochmann reinforced the importance of preserving the integrity of public statistics as a societal good and an essential element of democracy.
