By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and JOSH BOAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — The director of the company that produces the nation’s jobs and inflation knowledge is usually a mild-mannered technocrat, typically with intensive expertise in statistical businesses, with little public profile.
However like a lot in President Donald Trump’s second administration, this time is completely different.
Trump has chosen E.J. Antoni, chief economist on the conservative Heritage Basis, to be the subsequent commissioner on the Labor Division’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Antoni’s nomination was rapidly met with a cascade of criticism from different economists, from throughout the political spectrum.
His choice threatens to deliver a brand new stage of politicization to what for many years has been a nonpartisan company extensively accepted as a producer of dependable measures of the nation’s financial well being. Whereas many former Labor Division officers say it it unlikely Antoni will be capable to distort or alter the info, significantly within the quick run, he might change the presently dry-as-dust means it’s offered.
Antoni was nominated by Trump after the BLS launched a jobs report Aug. 1 that confirmed that hiring had weakened in July and was a lot decrease in Might and June than the company had beforehand reported. Trump, with out proof, charged that the info had been “rigged” for political causes and fired the then-BLS chair, Erika McEntarfer, a lot to the dismay of many inside the company.
Antoni has been a vocal critic of the federal government’s jobs knowledge in frequent appearances on podcasts and cable TV. His partisan commentary is uncommon for somebody who might find yourself main the BLS.
The month-to-month employment reviews are in all probability the closest-watched financial knowledge on Wall Road, and may often trigger swings in inventory costs.
When requested at Tuesday’s White Home briefing whether or not the roles report would proceed to be launched, press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated the administration hoped it could be.
“I believe that is the plan and that’s the hope,” Leavitt stated.
Leavitt additionally defended Antoni’s nomination, calling him an “economic expert” who has testified earlier than Congress and including that, “the president trusts him to lead this important department.”
But Antoni’s TV and podcast appearances have created extra of a portrait of a conservative ideologue, as an alternative of a cautious economist who considers tradeoffs and prioritizes getting the maths appropriate.
“There’s just nothing in his writing or his resume to suggest that he’s qualified for the position, besides that he is always manipulating the data to favor Trump in some way,” stated Brian Albrecht, chief economist on the Worldwide Middle for Regulation and Economics.
Antoni wrongly claimed within the final 12 months of Biden’s presidency that the economic system had been in recession since 2022; referred to as on all the Federal Reserve board to be fired for not incomes a revenue on its Treasury securities holdings; and posted a chart on social media that conflated timelines to recommend inflation was headed to fifteen%.
His argument that the U.S. was in a recession rested on a vastly exaggerated measure of housing inflation, primarily based on newly-purchased dwelling costs, to artificially make the nation’s gross home product seem smaller than it was.
“This is actually maybe the worst Antoni content I’ve seen yet,” Alan Cole of the center-right Tax Basis stated on social media, referring to his recession declare.
On a 2024 podcast, Antoni wished to sundown Social Safety funds for staff paying into the system, saying that “you’ll need a generation of people who pay Social Security taxes but never actually receive any of those benefits.” As head of the BLS, Antoni would oversee the discharge of the patron worth index by which Social Safety funds are adjusted for inflation.
Many economists share, to some extent, Antoni’s considerations that the federal government’s jobs knowledge has flaws and is threatened by tendencies equivalent to declining response charges to its surveys. The drop has made the roles figures extra unstable, although not essentially much less correct over time.
“The stock market moves clearly based on these job numbers, and so people with skin in the game think it’s telling them something about the future of their investments,” Albrecht stated. “Could it be improved? Absolutely.”
Katharine Abraham, an economist on the College of Maryland who was BLS Commissioner below President Invoice Clinton, stated updating the roles report’s strategies would require at the least some preliminary funding.
The federal government might use extra trendy knowledge sources, she stated, equivalent to figures from payroll processing corporations, and fill in gaps with surveys.
“There’s an inconsistency between saying you want higher response rates and you want to spend less money,” she stated, referring to the administration’s proposals to chop BLS funding.
Nonetheless, Abraham and different former BLS commissioners don’t suppose Antoni, if confirmed, would be capable to alter the figures. He might push for adjustments within the month-to-month press launch and search to painting the numbers in a extra optimistic mild.
William Seaside, who was appointed BLS commissioner by Trump in his first time period and in addition served below Biden, stated he’s assured that BLS procedures are sturdy sufficient to forestall political meddling. He stated he didn’t see the figures himself till two days earlier than publication when he served as commissioner.
“The commissioner does not affect the numbers,’’ Beach said. “They don’t collect the data. They don’t massage the data. They don’t organize it.”
Relating to the percentages of rigging the numbers, Seaside stated, “I wouldn’t put it at full zero, however I’d put it fairly near zero.’’
It took about six months after McEntarfer was nominated in July 2023 for her to be authorised. Antoni will probably face stiff opposition from Democrats, however that is probably not sufficient to derail his appointment.
Sen. Patty Murray, a senior Democrat from Washington, on Tuesday slammed Antoni as “an unqualified right-wing extremist” and demanded that the GOP chairman of the Senate Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions Committee, Sen. Invoice Cassidy of Louisiana, maintain a affirmation listening to for him.
Related Press Workers Writers Paul Wiseman and Stephen Groves contributed to this story.
Initially Printed: August 12, 2025 at 4:01 PM PDT
