BLS leadership change raises questions about data independence

President Trump nominates E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics after firing the previous commissioner amid accusations of data manipulation.

Trump nominates new Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner

President Donald Trump on Monday announced the nomination of E.J. Antoni as the next commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Antoni is the chief economist at the Heritage Foundation and has publicly questioned the bureau’s data methods in the past. The move follows the firing of Erika McEntarfer earlier this month after the July jobs report showed weaker employment growth and large revisions.

Trump said he is nominating a highly respected economist to lead the BLS, saying in a Truth Social post that the science of the data should be preserved and that the bureau must function without political interference. The BLS, a nonpartisan agency that collects and publishes data on jobs and inflation, plays a key role in decisions from Social Security payments to corporate hiring plans. Critics have warned that budget cuts and reductions in data collection could undermine reliability, and some economists questioned the timing of the leadership change.

The agency has faced scrutiny over data collection cuts, including suspending activity in several cities earlier this year and cutting back nationwide data gathering by roughly 15 percent last month. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has stressed the importance of accurate government data for policymaking, underscoring why independent data institutions matter.

The nomination signals how much influence presidential leadership can exert over a central economic gauge. If the administration argues that data were manipulated under the old leadership, it risks politicizing a statistic that business decision makers depend on. At the same time, moving quickly to replace a commissioner can be seen as a bid to restore perceived credibility, even as budget pressures raise questions about future data quality.

This episode tests the BLS’s ability to remain nonpartisan amid political pressure. Restoring trust will require clear safeguards around methodology and transparency about any changes in data collection. In the longer run, the bureau’s independence will hinge on how well it communicates revisions and maintains consistent collection practices, especially when economic conditions shift.

Highlights

The coming months will show whether the BLS can navigate politics while keeping the data trustworthy.