Trump Nominates E.J. Antoni To Lead Bureau Of Labor Statistics

President Donald Trump has announced E.J. Antoni, chief economist at The Heritage Foundation, as his choice to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) promising “HONEST and ACCURATE” jobs data after months of controversy over questionable employment reports.

The move follows Trump’s firing of former BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on August 1, after the agency admitted to massive downward revisions to previously reported job growth. In May, nonfarm payrolls were revised down by 125,000 jobs from +144,000 to a mere +19,000. June’s numbers dropped by 133,000 jobs, from +147,000 to just +14,000.

Trump didn’t mince words in his social media posts, accusing McEntarfer of manipulating data for “political purposes” to benefit the Biden administration.

“This is the same Bureau of Labor Statistics that overstated the Jobs Growth in March 2024 by approximately 818,000 and, then again, right before the 2024 Presidential Election, in August and September, by 112,000,” Trump wrote. “Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes.”

Antoni, who will require Senate confirmation, has long been critical of the BLS’s methodology. He says restoring public trust will require transparency and better processes for collecting and publishing employment data.

“There are better ways to collect, process, and disseminate data,” Antoni stated last week. “Only consistent delivery of accurate data in a timely manner will rebuild the trust that has been lost over the last several years.”

Trump praised Antoni’s credentials and commitment to integrity:

• Chief Economist at The Heritage Foundation, specializing in fiscal and labor market policy.

• Frequent critic of government data manipulation and statistical “massaging.”

• Advocate for reforms that prioritize accuracy over political convenience.

The shakeup at the BLS underscores the Trump administration’s broader effort to dismantle the politicization of federal agencies under Biden. Critics have argued that the jobs data revisions were not just statistical errors but part of a larger pattern of manipulation to protect the Democrats’ economic narrative.

With Antoni at the helm, the administration aims to deliver clear, unvarnished economic data to the American people numbers that reflect reality, not political spin.

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