Trump picks conservative economist as next labor stats chief

President Donald Trump announced Monday on Truth Social that he is tapping conservative economist Dr. E.J. Antoni as the next commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

On Aug. 1, Trump said he directed his team to fire former BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after the agency reported that the U.S. added only 73,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in July. In his post about Antoni’s nomination, the president wrote that the new commissioner will “ensure” the job numbers released are “HONEST and ACCURATE.”

“I am pleased to announce that I am nominating Highly Respected Economist, Dr. E.J. Antoni, as the next Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 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. Congratulations E.J.!” Trump wrote.

In Trump’s announcement of firing McEntarfer, he accused her of having “faked the jobs numbers” prior to the 2024 presidential election to “boost” former Vice President Kamala Harris’s chance of winning.

Antoni, the Heritage Foundation’s chief economist, previously criticized the BLS job numbers on his X account, saying in May that the reports often felt like “a random number generator.”

The limited growth in July’s BLS report follows downward revisions of a combined 258,000 jobs for May and June, according to a White House press release. The White House also said the BLS has revised jobs data throughout 2024 under the Biden administration, including lowering the benchmark payroll growth for the year ending in March 2024 by 818,000 jobs — the second-largest benchmark revision on record.

“A lengthy history of inaccuracies and incompetence by Erika McEntarfer, the former Biden-appointed Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, has completely eroded public trust in the government agency charged with disseminating key data used by policymakers and businesses to make consequential decisions,” the White House press release said.

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