Donald Trump broke an obscure but important rule when he bragged about US jobs report

The directive first came into practice during the Nixon administration to preserve the neutrality and objectivity of the statistics

Mr Trump tweeted about job figures, breaking a time embargo (REUTERS)

Donald Trump has broken an obscure federal rule by commenting on the US' monthly jobs report within an hour of its publication.

Mr Trump violated the 1985 federal rule preventing all executive branch employees, which includes the President, from publicly commenting on important economic indicators before the one-hour embargo is reached.

He jumped the gun at 8.45am local time, just 15 minutes after the US government released the figures that 209,000 jobs had been added in July.

He tweeted: “Excellent Jobs Numbers just released - and I have only just begun. Many job stifling regulations continue to fall. Movement back to USA!”

The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) releases employment figures and statistics to the White House a day before revealing them to the public. The rule states that the information should not be released early to prevent premature commentaries on it.

The directive, formally known as the Office of Management and Budget's Statistical Policy Directive Number 3, first came into practice during the Nixon administration. Officials were attempting to "preserve the neutrality and objectivity of the statistics”, according to the Hill.

The intent of the directive is to “prevent early access to information that may affect financial and commodity markets,” according to the rule published in the Federal Register.

Former press secretary Sean Spicer also broke the rule when he tweeted in March on job figures from February, 22 minutes after the data was released by the Labour Department.

Mr Spicer later admitted his mistake. “I apologise if we were a little excited, and we’re so excited to see so many Americans back to work,” he said.

Heidi Shierholz, from the Economic Policy Institute, was quick to criticise this latest transgression, which “doesn’t speak well for their respect for rule of law,” she said.

Mr Trump was dismissive of constitutional issues, said Lara Brown, an associate professor at The George Washington University, writing in US News & World Report that the President had revealed his “knowledge deficit” about the US political system.

One of the possible reasons for the breach in protocol is the CEA's lack of a chairman. The top CEA official analyses the latest figures, makes recommendations to the President on economic matters and addresses the media on job statistics.

Mr Trump’s nominee, Kevin Hassett, a tax expert and leading figure amongst conservative economic circles, is expected to take office soon, subject to Senate confirmation.