U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) is amplifying a Wall Street Journal article from December 11 about Chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell. According to the report, “Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that Fed staffers believe federal data could be overstating job creation by up to 60,000 jobs a month—which suggests the jobs market might be shrinking.”
Today Murphy wrote with a link to the article: “This feels like a big story that isn’t being told. The underlying issues here are complicated, but remember that Trump fired the person who oversees jobs numbers and replaced her because he wanted fudged data.”
[Note: In August, Trump fired the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Erika McEntarfer, claiming a jobs report released by the agency included numbers that were “rigged in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.” Trump was especially angry about revisions to previous reports, a common procedural step as more data are collected. The BLS commissioner does not personally ‘produce’ the jobs numbers.]
The latest jobs numbers, released in December, showed nonfarm payrolls growth “totaled a seasonally adjusted 64,000 for the month, better than the Dow Jones estimate of 45,000,” according to CNBC, which also reported that the “unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, more than expected, and its highest level since September 2021.” (Some of this change was due to Trump-enacted government layoffs.)
But Trump, while claiming he has improved every aspect of the economy, has focused on interests rates, which he wants lowered and which he blames for holding back economic growth. (Higher interest rates are used by central bankers to hold inflation in check, and while Trump has claimed to have stopped inflation, this claim appears built on data that show inflation slowing or stabilizing while prices remain on the rise.)
“In November, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 2.7 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted,” the BLS reported in December, adding “The index for all items less food and energy increased 2.6 percent over the year.”
This feels like a big story that isn't being told. The underlying issues here are complicated, but remember that Trump fired the person who oversees jobs numbers and replaced her because he wanted fudged data. https://t.co/CwfQf4cCw7
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 6, 2026
Powell, despite pressure from the White House, has refuted the notion that a rate reduction is an easy economic panacea, especially for potential home buyers, asserting that the shortage of affordable U.S. housing is a problem that interest rate cuts alone can’t fix.
“We can raise and lower interest rates,” the Fed Chair said in December, “but we don’t really have the tools to address a secular housing shortage, structural housing shortage.”
Two things, of course, can be true at once. JPMorgan economists acknowledge the interest rate factor impacts the lack of movement in built housing inventory, saying: “About half of current U.S. mortgage borrowers are still enjoying sub-4% rates, and about 80% are paying under 6%, creating a ‘locked-in’ effect — there’s little incentive to sell and take on a higher payment, keeping existing home inventory at historic lows.”
Murphy implies that “fudged data” helps Trump make his case against Powell and higher rates, with the Senator warning that a house (or economic policy) built on sand — or bad data — is sure to crumble.
Note: Powell’s term as chair ends in May. Fox News reports that Trump — and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — have narrowed down their list of contenders to replace Powell to four: Kevin Hassett, Trump’s director of the National Economic Council; Kevin Warsh, former Federal Reserve Board governor; Rick Rieder, BlackRock’s chief investment officer of global fixed income; and Christopher Waller, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors since 2020.
