E.J. Antoni, the economist tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, suggested suspending the agency’s closely watched monthly jobs report.
Trump's Nominee To Head The BLS Suggests Suspending Jobs Report
Credit: Screenshot
August 12, 2025

Don't like the numbers? Don't report them. Easy peasy.

Source: Fox News

E.J. Antoni, the economist tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, suggested suspending the agency’s closely watched monthly jobs report, arguing that its underlying methodology, economic modeling and statistical assumptions are fundamentally flawed.

In an Aug. 4 interview with Fox News Digital ahead of Monday’s nomination announcement, Antoni criticized the data behind the monthly jobs report as unreliable and frequently overstated, warning that it misleads key economic decision-makers from Washington to Wall Street.

"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," Antoni told Fox News Digital.

"Until it is corrected, the BLS should suspend issuing the monthly job reports but keep publishing the more accurate, though less timely, quarterly data," he said, adding, "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."

Antoni, the Heritage Foundation’s chief economist, must face Senate confirmation before ascending to the top spot at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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