President Donald Trump’s decision to nominate E.J. Antoni as commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has sent shockwaves through Washington and the broader economic community, igniting fierce debate over the future of the nation’s most important economic data agency. The move, announced on August 11, 2025, comes just ten days after Trump abruptly fired Erika McEntarfer, the agency’s previous head, following a disappointing jobs report that showed a sharp slowdown in employment growth. Trump accused McEntarfer, who was appointed by former President Biden in 2024, of manipulating the figures to harm his political standing—an allegation widely rejected by economists and dismissed as baseless by the Friends of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump declared, “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.” But the president’s rationale for firing McEntarfer—citing “rigged” jobs numbers—has been met with skepticism and concern about the politicization of federal economic statistics, which are essential for businesses, policymakers, and families making key decisions. As Reuters reported, the Friends of the Bureau of Labor Statistics called the firing “without merit” and warned it “undermines the credibility of federal economic statistics that are a cornerstone of intelligent economic decision-making.”
Antoni, currently chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, is no stranger to controversy. He has been a vocal critic of the BLS, frequently questioning the reliability of its data and the integrity of its revisions. Last year, he wrote in the New York Post that “the Biden-Harris Labor Department seems to exist in the land of make-believe,” after the BLS published a significant downward revision to employment estimates. He has also contributed to “Project 2025,” a conservative blueprint for transforming the federal government, further fueling concerns among economists about his commitment to nonpartisan analysis.
The BLS, a key statistical agency within the Department of Labor, produces monthly reports on jobs, unemployment, wages, inflation, and productivity that are closely watched by markets and policymakers worldwide. Its headline jobs report, known as the nonfarm payrolls report, is revised twice after its initial release to account for additional survey responses and seasonal adjustments, and is subject to an annual benchmark revision. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI), also published by the BLS, provide a comprehensive picture of inflation and are used to set Social Security cost-of-living adjustments, among other things.
But the agency has faced mounting challenges in recent years, including declining survey response rates, underfunding across multiple administrations, and increased reliance on data imputations—essentially, filling in missing information with estimates. According to Reuters, the percentage of prices that are imputed rather than directly gathered has more than tripled this year to 35%. Erica Groshen, who served as BLS commissioner from 2013 to 2017, warned, “I can’t help but worry some deadlines are going to be missed and undetected biases or other errors are going to start creeping into some of these reports just because of the reduction in staff.”
Antoni’s nomination has only heightened scrutiny of the agency and its future. In a Fox News interview published August 12, he floated the idea of suspending the monthly jobs report altogether, arguing that the data is unreliable and should be replaced, at least temporarily, by less frequent but more accurate quarterly reports. “It’s a serious problem that needs to be fixed immediately,” Antoni told Fox News. “Until it is corrected, the BLS should suspend issuing the monthly job reports but keep publishing the more accurate, though less timely, quarterly data.”
This proposal has alarmed many across the political spectrum. Senator Bill Cassidy, the Republican chairman of the Senate committee overseeing the nomination, said he would meet with Antoni, emphasizing the need for a BLS commissioner “committed to producing accurate, unbiased economic information to the American people.” Yet Democratic Senator Patty Murray issued a scathing rebuke, warning, “Any Senator who votes to confirm this partisan hack is voting to shred the integrity of our nation’s best economic and jobs data, which underpin our entire economy.” She added that she believed BLS data would become “make-believe” under Antoni’s leadership.
Economists have also expressed deep reservations. Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US, predicted that Antoni’s appointment “will result in a surge in demand for private label data,” as trust in official government statistics erodes. Alex Jacquez of the Groundwork Collaborative called Antoni a “sycophant,” arguing that his selection was “a clear assault on independent analysis that will have far-reaching implications for the reliability of U.S. economic data.” Jessica Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, wrote on social media, “The articles and tweets I’ve seen him publish are probably the most error-filled of any think tank economist right now.”
Antoni’s supporters, however, see things differently. Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon told Bloomberg that Antoni was “the perfect guy” to lead the BLS, and in a podcast, Antoni himself argued that the absence of a Trump appointee at the agency was “part of the reason why we continue to have all of these different data problems.” Senator Cassidy, while critical of McEntarfer’s leadership, insisted that the focus should be on restoring confidence in the agency’s methods and outputs.
The White House, for its part, has tried to strike a balance. Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that it was “the plan and the hope” that the BLS would continue publishing monthly jobs reports, but stressed the need to review the agency’s data collection methods. “We need to look at the means and the methods of how the BLS is acquiring this very important data,” she said. “The goal of course is to provide honest and good data for the American people.”
Antoni, who holds a doctoral degree in economics and has taught courses on labor economics, money, and banking, must still be confirmed by the Senate before taking office. If confirmed, he will inherit an agency at a crossroads, facing not only technical and funding challenges but also the daunting task of restoring public trust in the reliability and impartiality of the nation’s economic data. The outcome of his nomination battle will likely shape how Americans—and the world—view the health of the U.S. economy for years to come.
The fight over the BLS is more than a bureaucratic spat; it’s a struggle over the facts that underpin every major economic decision in the country. As the Senate prepares to weigh Antoni’s nomination, the stakes for data integrity and public trust have rarely been higher.
