Great news for American workers: economy added 235,000 new jobs, unemployment rate drops to 4.7% in first report for @POTUS Trump
Announced in the Federal Register on Sept. 25, 1985, when Ronald Reagan was president, the rule was adopted “to preserve the distinction between the policy-neutral release of data by statistical agencies
and their interpretation by policy officials,” and to avoid affecting “financial and commodity markets,” according to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, part of the Office of Management and Budget.
Except for members of the staff of the agency issuing the principal economic indicator who have been designated by the agency head to provide technical explanations
of the data, employees of the executive branch shall not comment publicly on the data until at least one hour after the official release time.”
The rule as published in the Federal Register does not include a penalty for violation.
Jason Furman, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in President Barack Obama’s second term, said by email
on Friday: “The interpretation of our administration (like Clinton and Bush) was that this applied to POTUS.
“Don’t make me make the podium move,” he told a questioner, alluding to a parody of his briefing style on “Saturday Night Live.”
He said that while “I understand the rule,” he felt his post had caused no market disruption because the news was already out.
By PATRICIA COHENMARCH 10, 2017
The enthusiastic reaction of Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, was understandable
on Friday when the Labor Department reported a gain of 235,000 jobs.