Trump nominates Bureau of Labor Statistics critic as the agency’s new head
After firing the agency’s head less than two weeks ago, Trump on Monday announced he is nominating Antoni as the next commissioner.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation
President Donald Trump named E.J. Antoni as the new head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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After firing the agency’s head less than two weeks ago, Trump on Monday announced he is nominating Antoni as the next commissioner
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“Our Economy is booming, and E.J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE. I know E.J. Antoni will do an incredible job in this new role,” the President wrote in a Truth Social Post.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is responsible for tracking jobs, unemployment, inflation, wages, salaries, employee benefits, workplace injuries, and productivity changes in the economy. It releases monthly labor reports and forecasts future market trends.
Trump fired the head of the agency, Erika McEntarfer, on August 1 following a lackluster jobs report that indicated the U.S. economy might be much weaker than anticipated. The president accused McEntarfer without evidence of manufacturing jobs data to damage his political standing. She was appointed by Biden in 2024, with BLS commissioners usually serving four-year terms.
“In my opinion, today’s Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
The Friends of the Bureau of Labor Statistics called the president’s rationale for firing McEntarfer “without merit” in a statement on their website and said the move “undermines the credibility of federal economic statistics that are a cornerstone of intelligent economic decision-making by businesses, families, and policymakers.”
Antoni is the chief economist of the Heritage Foundation, a non-profit research institute that promotes conservative public policies. He previously worked for the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation and is the in-house economist for the VINCE Show, a conservative podcast produced by the Austin, Texas WBAP radio network.
Antoni previously has criticized BLS jobs data and revisions. Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon told Bloomberg that Antoni was “the perfect guy” to run the BLS, and in a podcast episode, Antoni told Bannon that the absence of a Trump pick running the agency is “part of the reason why we continue to have all of these different data problems.”
The Senate must approve Trump’s nomination before Antoni takes the helm of the agency.
— Joseph Zeballos-Roig and Shannon Carroll contributed to this article.