President Trump said he will fire the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after the independent government agency reported weak jobs numbers for July and the preceding month. Why it matters: Trump is turning his ire about poor jobs numbers on the number-crunchers.

Without evidence, Trump called the data "rigged" and implied that BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer manipulated the numbers "for political purposes."

The data come after economists have expressed concern that the Trump Administration’s flip-flopping tariff policies and sweeping layoffs at federal agencies could slow economic growth. Some Democratic lawmakers slammed the Administration upon the release of the Labor Department’s report.