The Heritage Foundation’s chief economist, EJ Antoni, who President Donald Trump recently appointed to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, told Fox Business ahead of his nomination that the bureau should do away with its monthly job reports.
Antoni said the BLS’s jobs report data is unreliable, echoing concerns from the White House. Trump recently fired former BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after a disappointing July jobs report.
“Until it is corrected, the BLS should suspend issuing the monthly job reports but keep publishing the more accurate, though less timely, quarterly data,” Antoni said on Fox Business. “Major decision-makers from Wall Street to D.C. rely on these numbers, and a lack of confidence in the data has far-reaching consequences.”
The July jobs report that led to Trump’s firing of McEntarfer reported only 73,000 jobs added to the U.S. economy that month, a significant decline in job growth. According to previous Washington Examiner reporting, investors expected approximately 108,000 new jobs to be added to the U.S. economy in July.
Antoni defended Trump’s firing of McEntarfer in a previous interview with the Washington Examiner.
“Just the timing is very unfortunate, because it makes it look like you’re just firing the person because you weren’t happy with the numbers, as opposed to firing for incompetence, which I think has been the case for a couple of years now,” Antoni said.
Trump attacked the validity of McEntarfer’s BLS monthly jobs reports on Truth Social. He also referenced the report in another Truth Social post when he appointed Antoni to the role.
“I am pleased to announce that I am nominating Highly Respected Economist, Dr. E.J. Antoni, as the next Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Our Economy is booming, and E.J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE,” Trump wrote Monday evening on Truth Social.
TRUMP FIRES TOP LABOR STATISTICS OFFICIAL AFTER WEAK JOBS REPORT
Antoni added in his Fox Business interview, “How on earth are businesses supposed to plan, or how is the Fed supposed to conduct monetary policy, when they don’t know how many jobs are being added or lost in our economy? It’s a serious problem that needs to be fixed immediately.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Heritage Foundation seeking comment from Antoni about his stance on the BLS’s publication of jobs reports since his nomination, but did not receive a response.