The Importance of Official Data in Assessing Economic Conditions | Erika McEntarfer

Following the events of August 1, 2025, when the world saw President Trump question the integrity of one of the most widely used government data sources, the Levy Institute was pleased to welcome the recently removed BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer (and Bard College alumna ’95), to a conversation about why data—and measurement in particular—matter for policy, markets, and our daily lives. McEntarfer spoke to an audience of Bard students, faculty, staff, and community members, recounting the day of her abrupt dismissal following the release of the July jobs report, and discussed the ways that nonpartisan statisticians affect our everyday lives as Americans.

Many of the Institute’s scholars rely on BLS data daily. Their frequency and methods are indispensable for our work. The Levy Economics Institute itself has contributed to BLS-commissioned research on measurement.

While the public may have learned of Dr. McEntarfer from the recent BLS shakeup, among economists she is known for her wide ranging expertise and contributions as a professional economist who has worked particularly on issues related to economic measurement, data methodology, and workforce analytics. She has had a distinguished career, having worked under both Republican and Democratic administrations, from the Census Bureau and the Department of the Treasury to the Council of Economic Advisers and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Erika McEntarfer is an American labor economist who recently served as the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a role she was appointed to by President Biden. Prior to her appointment, she spent over two decades in nonpolitical roles across the federal government. Her public service work has focused on developing new economic insights by linking government data in novel ways, and the creation of new labor market statistics. Her research on labor market dynamics has been published in American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, the Journal of Labor Economics, and the Journal of Economic Perspectives. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Bard College and a Ph.D. in economics from Virginia Tech.

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