Trump Nominates Heritage Foundation Economist to Lead Bureau of Labor Statistics

President Donald Trump has nominated E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, to serve as the next commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the federal agency responsible for producing key economic data.

Trump announced the nomination on Monday saying, “Our economy is booming, and E.J. will ensure that the numbers released are honest and accurate.”

The decision comes after Trump removed BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer earlier this month, following the release of the July jobs report. That report showed slower-than-expected job growth and downward revisions to previous months. Trump accused the report of being “rigged,” though no evidence has been presented to support the claim.

Antoni, who has been critical of the agency’s monthly jobs reports, has suggested the BLS should suspend them in favor of less frequent but, in his view, more accurate quarterly reports. “Major decisionmakers from Wall Street to D.C. rely on these numbers, and a lack of confidence in the data has far-reaching consequences,” Antoni told Fox News Digital earlier this month.

The BLS, part of the U.S. Department of Labor, has long been regarded as a gold standard for economic data. Experts from both Republican and Democratic administrations note that political interference in its data is highly unlikely because of the agency’s collection and review process.

Some economists have expressed concern that changing the BLS’s reporting schedule or methods could reduce transparency and disrupt markets that depend on timely labor statistics.

While they argue that the recent large revisions to BLS jobs reports stem from post-COVID-19 challenges—such as difficulties collecting data and lower survey response rates—Antoni is among a small group of pro-Trump economists who claim the agency has deliberately “massaged” data to benefit Democrats and hurt Republicans.

His nomination will now go before the Republican-controlled Senate, where confirmation would place him in charge of BLS reporting on employment, inflation, and wages—data that directly shape economic policy, business decisions, and public perception of the economy.

But critics, including some conservative economists, have questioned his qualifications. “There are a lot of competent conservative economists that could do this job. E.J. is not one of them,” wrote Kyle Pomerleau, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, on social media.