Trump nominates conservative economist to head agency that compiles jobs, inflation data

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President Donald Trump said Monday that he has nominated E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, to head the agency that compiles and publishes the nation’s employment and inflation figures.

“Our Economy is booming, and E.J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE,” Trump said on social media late Monday.

Antoni, if approved by the Senate, would replace Erika McEntarfer, who was appointed commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics by former President Joe Biden. Trump fired McEntarfer Aug. 1 after the July jobs report showed hiring slowed sharply this spring, with job gains in May and June revised much lower than initially estimated.

Trump accused McEntarfer, without evidence, of rigging the jobs data for political reasons.

The announcement was made one day before the BLS released the latest inflation data, which showed inflation was unchanged in July while a measure of underlying inflation rose to its highest level in five months.

Antoni has criticized the bureau’s’ collection and publication of the jobs data for years, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, after which the agency has frequently revised its initial jobs estimates lower. Many conservatives have argued that this potentially benefited Biden by producing a large initial monthly job gain, only to have it reduced in subsequent months.

However, revisions — including downward revisions — are not unusual and occurred during the Trump administration as well. Overall hiring jumped after the pandemic and the unemployment rate stayed low even after the revisions.

Antoni called for McEntarfer to be fired after the jobs report was released Aug. 1. Last Monday he wrote on X, “There are better ways to collect, process, and disseminate data — that is the task for the next BLS commissioner, and only consistent delivery of accurate data in a timely manner will rebuild the trust that has been lost over the last several years.”

The BLS commissioner is the only political appointee at the agency, which is otherwise staffed by career civil servants. Most previous commissioners have been mild-mannered technocrats.

Antoni, however, has been an unabashed partisan in his economic analyses posted on the Heritage website. For example, two months ago, in an analysis of the May jobs report, he wrote, “A deep dive into the report shows any weakness started long before the Trump administration, which is making undeniable progress reprivatizing the economy.”

Antoni’s nomination quickly attracted an unusual level of criticism.

Jason Furman, a top economist in the Obama administration, wrote on X: “I don’t think I have ever publicly criticized any Presidential nominee before. But E.J. Antoni is completely unqualified to be BLS Commissioner. He is an extreme partisan and does not have any relevant expertise.”

Kyle Pomeleau, a tax expert for the right-leaning Tax Foundation and the conservative American Enterprise Institute, wrote on X: “There are a lot of competent conservative economists that could do this job. E.J. is not one of them.”

Christopher Rugaber is an AP Economics Writer.

Associated Press writer Josh Boak contributed to this report.