WASHINGTON — The data that caused President Donald Trump to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he did not like the July employment report, calling it “rigged,” is being taken as serious evidence by Federal Reserve officials of a slowing economy and as a justification for the interest rate cuts Trump wants.
“The latest employment report confirmed some of the signs of fragility and reduced dynamism in the labor market,” Fed Governor Michelle Bowman, a Trump appointee, said in a Saturday speech that elaborated on how the latest jobs numbers and revisions to prior months’ data validated her concerns about a weakening economy. “I see the risk that a delay in taking action could result in a deterioration in labor market conditions and a further slowing in economic growth.”
While signs of a weakening labor market could get Trump his wish for the Fed to cut rates, which he believes would result in lower interest costs on the country’s increasing debt load, it also flies in the face of his assertions that his tax cuts and immigration and trade agendas are driving growth higher.
