To hear President Donald Trump and his allies tell it, the ex-chief of the government agency that produces the critical U.S. employment report deserved to be fired due to political bias. Former leaders of the Bureau of Labor Statistics — the agency in the middle of a political firestorm — scoff at the idea.

President Donald Trump claimed without evidence that the massive revisions to the latest jobs report constituted a “scam.” Yet revisions by the BLS were neither historic nor evidence of corruption.

The Trump administration is scrutinizing the Bureau of Labor Statistics' employment data, key metrics that demonstrate the health of the U.S. economy. Why it matters: The monthly jobs report is one of the most important pieces of economic data,