Trump Nominates Controversial Economist E.J. Antoni as New BLS Commissioner, Accused of Manipulating Data
In a notable development, President Donald Trump announced the nomination of Dr. E.J. Antoni as the new commissioner for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Monday. The BLS is responsible for collecting and publishing data on employment and inflation. The previous commissioner was dismissed by Trump, who accused her without evidence of manipulating job data for political purposes.
Trump made the announcement via a post on Truth Social, praising Antoni as a highly respected economist. Antoni has previously served as an economist at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and currently holds the same position at the Heritage Foundation, both conservative think tanks. Notably, he has been critical of the BLS’s data collection methods in the past.
During an August 1 appearance on Steve Bannon’s podcast, Antoni criticized the then-BLS commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, over the latest monthly jobs report. The report showed disappointing figures for July and a significant downward revision for employment growth in May and June. Antoni referred to McEntarfer as “incompetent” and appeared to support Bannon’s suggestion that a MAGA Republican should fill the role instead.
Following this critique, Trump terminated McEntarfer’s appointment. Appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2023 and confirmed by a bipartisan Senate vote, McEntarfer’s dismissal sparked criticism from many economists who expressed concern that it could harm the bureau’s credibility.
William Beach, a former BLS commissioner nominated by Trump, voiced his opposition to the decision to fire McEntarfer, stating, “I don’t think there’s any grounds at all for this firing, and it really hurts the statistical system.” He expressed concern that political influence could compromise the reliability of future data.
The BLS, a nonpartisan agency, plays a crucial role in informing decision-making across both public and private sectors. Its reports influence various aspects, from Social Security payments to corporate hiring and layoff plans, helping policymakers and businesses assess the health of the U.S. economy.
Concerns about the bureau’s data accuracy had surfaced even before McEntarfer’s dismissal, with some economists warning that budget cuts, layoffs, and hiring freezes under the Trump administration could undermine its reliability. In July, the BLS announced it had temporarily halted data collection in three cities and reduced the data collected from the rest of the country by approximately 15%. These developments have raised questions about the bureau’s ability to maintain the “gold standard” of data that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell referred to earlier this year.