Abstract:The president indicated that private sector payrolls had expanded by 654,000, a total that would have included Friday's jobs count for December.
President Donald Trump in a social media post Thursday evening indirectly revealed data from Friday's market-moving nonfarm payrolls count, an apparent violation of long-standing federal policy on statistical releases.
In a Truth Social post around 9 p.m. ET, the president indicated that private sector payrolls had expanded by 654,000 for the full year of 2025, a total that would have included Friday's jobs count for December.
Office of Management and Budget policy prohibits executive branch officials from commenting on such releases early and in fact forbids public statements until 30 minutes after the release.
Presidents can be briefed on official jobs figures ahead of the release.
A White House official conceded, however, that “there was an inadvertent public disclosure of aggregate data that was partially derived from pre-released information. The White House is accordingly reviewing protocols regarding economic data releases.”
The official further chided the media for “grasping at straws to foment another fake controversy” and instead urged a focus on how “President Trump's policies are laying the groundwork for an economic resurgence as GDP and real wage growth continue to accelerate.”
The Trump post drew a distinction between private and government job growth, with the latter down 181,000 for 2025.