“The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) notes with concern the dismissal of Erika McEntarfer as Commissioner of Labor Statistics by US President, Donald Trump, at a time when the global economy is experiencing significant disturbance.
The United Nations’ Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics establishes international professional and scientific standards for the production of official statistics. The RSS, as one of the world’s leading statistical societies and with a membership that includes official statisticians from many countries, is keenly interested in the adherence to these standards across the world to ensure quality and integrity.
Any concerns regarding data or methodology should be independently evaluated to ensure credibility is maintained. The dismissal undermines international trust in US statistics, which has ramifications well beyond policy decisions within the US, with impacts on global confidence in the world economy.
The RSS is against all forms of political interference in the production of official statistics and urges President Trump to ensure that the nonpartisan integrity of the position is retained. Furthermore, reassurance is needed to ensure that statisticians working for federal agencies have confidence to continue producing the objective statistical information that enables those in power to gain the trust of their communities.
These actions are essential to ensure a healthy democracy in the US, and to maintain international credibility in its statistics.”
Archive for Bureau of Labor Statistics
A statement from the Royal Statistical Society on the dismissal of the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, Dr Erika McEntarfer
Posted in Books, Statistics, University life, Wines with tags @ScientistTrump, academic integrity, Britain, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Donald Trump, federal agencies, official statistics, political interference, Royal Statistical Society, RSS, Trump administration, United Nations, US economy, US politics on August 7, 2025 by xi'anshoot the messenger & cook the books
Posted in Books, Statistics with tags Agent Orange, America, Argentina, ASA, autoritarian, Bureau of Labor Statistics, conspiracy theories, Council of the European Union, democracy index, Donald Trump, EU, Europe, Greece, ISI, official statistics, Poland, populism, Statistics Poland, The New York Times, theocracy, US elections 2024, US politics on August 2, 2025 by xi'an
Heads of Official Statistics Bureaux has been subjected to suspicion and sometimes prosecution from their governments in the recent past, the most notable cases being Agentina with Graciela Bevacqua and Greece (with Andreas Georgiou), while the ASA and the ISI expressed deep concern this year about the dismissal of Dominik Rozkrut as President of Statistics Poland. Now this undemocratic tide against the independence of official statistics has reached America, with Agent Orange firing the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he did not like the (un)employment report!! Rather than reflecting on the massive impact on the economy of his own, chaotic, economic decisions and counter-decisions.
“What do we do when the president of the United States behaves [like a 5-year-old]? On Friday, President Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics — the nation’s workaday scorekeeper of employment, wages and productivity. Why? Because the data didn’t make Mr. Trump look good. The statistics were inconvenient. So the president didn’t just challenge the findings; he fired the statistician. That’s not governing. That’s board flipping (…) One danger certainly is that a future Bureau of Labor Statistics head might feel political pressure to fudge a jobs report. The deeper risk is cynicism, the quiet corrosion of faith in institutions. If we can’t believe the numbers, how do we believe anything?” f, Aug. 3
