Trump's Unintended Job Data Leak Sparks Policy Reevaluation

U.S. President Donald Trump shared unreleased job data on his social media, breaking protocol. The chart, liked by thousands, previewed private-sector and government job changes. The White House is reviewing data release protocols. Trump distanced himself from responsibility, citing procedural norms for economic data briefings.

U.S. President Donald Trump shared a chart on his social media that contained job-market data not publicly released until the following day. The White House stated this was an inadvertent breach of protocol.

The chart showed an increase of 654,000 private-sector jobs and a decrease of 181,000 government jobs. These figures were only published by the Labor Department in its December jobs report. Trump has been known to share economic data ahead of official releases.

White House officials, including Kevin Hassett, who has advance data access, brief the president pre-release. A White House review of data protocols is underway, as the Administration seeks to prevent future breaches of this kind.

(With inputs from agencies.)