President Trump's latest nominee for the Bureau of Labor Statistics has dropped a bombshell idea that’s already stirring the pot in economic circles. E.J. Antoni, tapped to lead the agency, wants to halt the monthly jobs reports altogether.
According to The Hill, Antoni argues the data behind these reports lacks reliability, proposing instead to focus on quarterly figures that he claims are more accurate despite their delay. His stance, voiced to Fox News Digital before his nomination on Monday, raises eyebrows about the future of key economic indicators.
Antoni, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, made waves with his assertion that major players from Wall Street to Washington depend on these numbers, and shaky confidence in them could ripple through the economy. His comments, published Tuesday but dated to early August, suggest a deep skepticism of current methods that many see as a cornerstone of policy and market decisions.
Trump’s choice of Antoni comes on the heels of firing the previous BLS chief, Erika McEntarfer, after a disappointing July jobs report showed weak growth and significant downward revisions for May and June. The net result painted a grim picture of just 100,000 jobs added over three months, far below what’s needed to keep unemployment steady.
The president didn’t hold back, accusing McEntarfer and the agency of tweaking data to smear Republicans and shield Democratic economic failures. Yet, without evidence to back this up, his claims have drawn pushback from BLS veterans across party lines who insist political tampering with the numbers is nearly impossible given the agency’s processes.
Antoni, however, aligns with a small group of pro-Trump economists who’ve long charged the BLS with massaging figures to favor Democrats. His nomination signals a potential shift in how the agency’s influential reports on jobs and inflation might be handled moving forward.
In a May op-ed for Townhall, Antoni didn’t mince words, slamming the Biden administration for touting a supposedly historic economy while families struggled financially. He claimed the Labor Department had “admitted” to inflating job numbers under the prior administration, calling the stats “misleading” and accusing the media of ignoring real pain to push a false narrative.
His sharp words, like describing economic pain as dismissed while “inaccurate statistics were paraded on the news,” reflect a belief that Americans have been fed a distorted picture. Such rhetoric raises questions about whether his leadership would prioritize raw data over perceived political spin, or simply trade one bias for another.
While Antoni contributed to the Project 2025 plan for Trump’s second term, his track record of alleging data manipulation has some wondering if his tenure might undermine trust in the BLS itself. If he pushes to scrap monthly reports, the cadence of economic insight could slow to a crawl, leaving decision-makers in the dark longer.
Criticism of Antoni isn’t limited to one side of the aisle, with conservative economists also weighing in on his suitability. Alan Cole of the Tax Foundation called Antoni’s labor stats commentary “quite poor,” unfavorably comparing him to past Republican appointees like Keith Hall and William Beach, both seen as highly capable.
Kyle Pomerleau from the American Enterprise Institute echoed the sentiment, stating there are plenty of competent conservative economists for the job, but Antoni doesn’t make the cut. Such pointed critiques from within the right-leaning economic sphere suggest even allies question if he’s the right hand to steer this critical agency.
The skepticism isn’t just about his ideas but his tendency to frame economic data as a political football, a habit that could cast doubt on the objectivity of BLS reports under his watch. If confirmed by the GOP-controlled Senate, which seems likely with a simple majority needed, his influence on employment and inflation data will be closely scrutinized.
As revisions to BLS reports often stem from post-pandemic data collection hiccups, per most economists, Antoni’s insistence on conspiracy over complexity feels like a solution in search of a problem. Still, his push for less frequent but supposedly truer quarterly data might appeal to those fed up with constant revisions that muddle the economic picture.
Yet, tampering with the rhythm of monthly reports risks leaving policymakers and markets guessing at a time when clarity is paramount. If Antoni’s tenure prioritizes ideological battles over statistical rigor, the real loser could be public trust in the numbers that shape so much of our national debate.
In the end, this nomination isn’t just about one man or one agency, but about whether economic data remains a tool for understanding or becomes a weapon for scoring points. With Antoni at the helm, the BLS faces a defining moment, and Americans deserve to know if their reality will be reflected in the stats, or reshaped to fit a narrative.
