Trump names new Bureau of Labor Statistics chief amid economic data turmoil
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A news report on jobs data. Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
President Trump on Monday said he will nominate Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Why it matters: Economists worry that Trump aims to politicize the agency, which publishes crucial, market-moving data on employment and inflation.
- Expect Antoni to face huge questions about how he will handle economic data that displeases Trump — a situation that caused the president to fire former BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer in early August.
What they're saying: "Our Economy is booming, and E.J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE," Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Zoom out: Former White House adviser Steve Bannon had been pushing Antoni as a preferred MAGA candidate for the role.
- Antoni, who got his Ph.D. in 2020 from Northern Illinois University, is chief economist at Heritage's Hermann Center for the Federal Budget.
- He's the second Heritage economist picked by Trump to lead BLS, after William Beach in 2017. (Beach has recently blasted Trump's firing of McEntarfer.)
Catch up quick: Rarely has the agency, which collects data on the unemployment rate, inflation, wages, and much more, attracted such public attention outside of economic and financial wonks.
- That changed when Trump lambasted the BLS on Aug. 1, claiming that a worse-than-expected jobs report was "rigged."
- The report showed that hiring had all but stalled out in July, with historic revisions that showed employment was 258,000 lower than initially estimated in May and June.
Reality check: There is no evidence to suggest McEntarfer, a Biden appointee who has been in the post since 2024, fudged the statistics for political purposes.
- Economists see no evidence the data is rigged and say the large revisions have more prosaic causes — including seasonal adjustments and more complete survey responses.
What to watch: Top White House economists would not say that the BLS politically manipulated the data, though they agree the agency needed new leadership.
- "There's been very little attempt to actually fix this problem and come up with creative solutions to make the data more reliable," Council of Economic Advisers chair Stephen Miran told Axios after McEntarfer was fired.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with background on Antoni.
