Trump Picks E.J. Antoni to Oversee America’s Employment and Inflation Reports

President Donald Trump has chosen E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, to be the next commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) — the federal agency that tracks America’s jobs, wages, and inflation.

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

The move comes just weeks after Trump removed former BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer. Her firing followed the release of the July jobs report, which showed slower job growth than expected and downward revisions to earlier months. Trump claimed the report was “rigged,” but offered no evidence.

Antoni has long been critical of the BLS’s monthly jobs reports. He believes the agency should replace them with quarterly reports that he says would be more accurate, even if less timely. “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.

For decades, the BLS has been trusted by both Republican and Democratic

administrations as the gold standard for economic data. Experts say its collection methods make political interference highly unlikely. Still, some economists worry that changing how or when the reports are released could make it harder for businesses, policymakers, and families to plan.

Many economists point to pandemic-related challenges—like fewer people responding to surveys—as the reason for recent big revisions to jobs data. But Antoni is part of a small group of pro-Trump economists who believe the agency has “massaged” numbers to help Democrats and hurt Republicans.

The nomination now heads to the Republican-controlled Senate. If confirmed, Antoni would oversee the reports that help guide everything from government policy to small business hiring decisions.

Not everyone is convinced he’s the right choice. Kyle Pomerleau, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said on social media: “There are a lot of competent conservative economists that could do this job. E.J. is not one of them.”