WASHINGTON/NEW YORK: President Donald Trump on Friday fired a top Labor Department official on the heels of a market-shocking weak scorecard of the US job market, accusing her without evidence of manipulating the figures and adding to already growing concerns about the quality of economic data published by the federal government.

The move comes as a weaker-than-expected jobs report stoked fears about tariffs.

The president wants the head of the US Bureau of Labour Statistics sacked, and says Fed chair Jerome Powell should be ‘put out to pasture’.