Trump picks a Bureau of Labor Statistics critic, E.J. Antoni, to lead stats agency

President Donald Trump has picked E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the government agency that tracks jobs and prices, according to CNN reporting on this significant appointment. Antoni works as an economist at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and has been a strong critic of how the bureau collects its data. Trump fired the previous head, Erika McEntarfer, just ten days earlier, after she released disappointing job numbers for July.

The president claimed without proof that McEntarfer had changed the data to hurt him politically. Antoni had appeared on Steve Bannon's podcast in August and called McEntarfer incompetent when discussing the weak jobs report. CNN's coverage shows that Antoni even seemed to agree with Bannon that Trump should put a loyal Republican in the job instead. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is supposed to be neutral, and its data helps decide everything from Social Security payments to business hiring plans. Many economists worry that firing McEntarfer could hurt the bureau's reputation and make people question whether the data is trustworthy.

The New York Times reports that Antoni's nomination highlights Trump's effort to place his allies in charge of important economic data agencies. McEntarfer had been a career government worker at statistics agencies for many years before becoming commissioner and was confirmed by senators from both parties in 2024. Her firing shocked economists across the political spectrum because she was seen as qualified and independent. Antoni has questioned the bureau's methods before, calling one change to how inflation is measured an Orwellian trick to hide higher prices.

According to The New York Times analysis, economists from both conservative and liberal backgrounds say it's crucial that statistics agency heads appear politically neutral. They pointed to William Beach, who led the bureau during Trump's first term, as a good example because even though he was conservative, he was praised for being nonpartisan. The bureau already faces challenges with a smaller budget and fewer staff members, which makes it harder to collect accurate data and could lead to the kind of large revisions that upset Trump.

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NPR's reporting emphasizes that Antoni's potential appointment breaks from tradition since the Bureau of Labor Statistics job is usually held by nonpartisan experts who serve across different presidential administrations. The bureau produces the monthly jobs report that moves financial markets and tracks inflation that affects millions of Americans. Antoni would need Senate confirmation before he could officially take the job.

NPR notes that choosing a partisan economist to oversee such an important agency raises fresh concerns about whether government economic data will remain reliable and trustworthy. The bureau has already been weakened by budget cuts and staff reductions under Trump's administration, making Antoni's job even more challenging. According to NPR's coverage, economists worry that if people lose trust in government statistics, it could harm economic decision-making across the country. The Federal Reserve chair has previously called government data the gold standard, emphasizing how important it is for the information to be accurate and dependable for both policymakers and businesses to make good decisions.