White House Economist: Economic statistical agencies need a 'new perspective'

According to AXIOS, Stephen Miran, a senior White House economist, stated that an important economic statistics agency needs a "new perspective," but he did not repeat President Trump's statement about political manipulation of Friday's employment data. Trump ordered the dismissal of the Director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, after claiming without evidence that disappointing employment data was "manipulated". The bureau later confirmed that Director Erika McEntarfer had been fired and his deputy William Wiatrowski would serve as acting director. The July employment report released earlier on Friday showed that only 73000 new jobs were added last month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also announced a significant revision of data, showing that the total number of employed people is 258000 fewer than previously thought. This is the second largest two month downward correction on record, second only to the correction during the pandemic. Miran said, "It's definitely time to look at this issue from a new perspective and strive to find solutions that improve data reliability and reduce the magnitude of corrections. The institution should try to incentivize faster feedback or delay data release for one or two weeks, if doing so can reduce the magnitude of subsequent corrections