After the United States (US) job creation reports for May and June were revised sharply downwards this Friday, August 1, US President Donald Trump said he would fire Erika McEntarfer, commissioner of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics – the entity responsible for compiling and publishing labor market data in the country.

"I have instructed my team to fire this Biden political appointee, IMMEDIATELY," Trump wrote on social media, accusing McEntarfer, without evidence, of politicizing the jobs report.

"She will be replaced by someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate; they cannot be manipulated for political purposes," the Republican wrote. The US President's statements come just hours after Friday's employment report showed that the world's largest economy created 73,000 jobs in July, below the 104,000 expected by analysts. But the shock came from sharp revisions to previously reported data for the previous two months.

The new job creation reading in May rose from 144,000 to 19,000, and the June data fell from 147,000 to 14,000.

This scenario contradicts the recent narrative that the US labor market remained resilient, one of the arguments used by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) to maintain key interest rates in its latest monetary policy decisions, at a time when Trump has been instigating and pressuring the central bank to cut rates.