Trump's BLS nominee suggests suspending jobs report
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President Trump showing a jobs data chart. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
President Trump's nominee to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics, E.J. Antoni, suggested the possibility of suspending the bureau's flagship monthly jobs report.
Why it matters: It's one of the world's most fundamental pieces of data, crucial for investors to understand the health of the U.S. economy.
Catch up quick: Antoni made the suggestion in an interview with Fox News Digital on August 4 in response to concerns over the report's accuracy.
What they're saying: "How on Earth are businesses supposed to plan — or how is the Fed supposed to conduct monetary policy — when they don't know how many jobs are being added or lost in our economy? It's a serious problem that needs to be fixed immediately," Antoni told Fox.
The other side: Economists were quick to slam Antoni's suggestion.
- "That would (be) a serious mistake in my estimation. It would only fuel critiques of a politicization of job market data and likely result in volatility across asset classes," RSM US chief economist Joe Brusuelas tells Axios.
- "One gets the sense that comments like that will cause US Senators to question his wisdom, qualifications and suitability for the job."
The intrigue: The jobs report isn't the only major government program facing Antoni's scrutiny.
- In a 2024 interview he called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme" that would eventually collapse.
- "Eventually, you need to sunset the program," he said, while emphasizing that there is still money to pay for folks who are already retired. But for people retiring decades from now, "the program is not going to be viable."
- As the Urban Institute points out, Social Security isn't a Ponzi scheme — it's not based on a lie, and the pool of contributors will never run dry.
By the numbers: Markets mostly looked past Antoni's suggestion on the jobs data, staying broadly higher in early afternoon trading on the back of an earlier report indicating inflation was not heating up quite as badly as feared.
- That report is also produced by the BLS.
Madison Mills contributed.
Editor's note: This story was updated after Fox published a correction stating that their interview with E.J. Antoni was conducted by Fox News Digital (not on Fox Business Network).
