3 weeks ago

Economists relieved as White House withdraws controversial pick to lead Bureau of Labor Statistics

Economists are expressing relief that the White House withdrew its nomination for head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the government agency that reports key economic data.

In August, Donald Trump nominated EJ Antoni, chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation and a co-author of Project 2025, to replace Erika McEntarfer, whom Trump fired after the bureau released revisions to its monthly jobs report that showed weak job growth over the summer.

Antoni’s nomination ignited a rare consensus among both liberal and conservative economists, who said that Antoni was too partisan to serve in the role. Before his nomination, Antoni was an outspoken critic of the bureau and implied, with no evidence, that its data reporting was biased.

Stan Veuger, a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, called the withdrawal of Antoni’s nomination “good news in and of itself”.

“Antoni was genuinely unqualified and had clearly been picked based on his willingness to produce highly partisan content,” Veuger said. “That said, it remains to be seen what comes next.”

The White House has not detailed why it withdrew Antoni’s nomination. Antoni would have needed approval from the Senate to officially step into the role. Reports suggested that some senators, including Republicans Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, had refused to meet with Antoni, suggesting it would have been hard to get his nomination through the chamber.

Jason Furman, an economist at Harvard, said that the Senate “appears to have done its job and made it clear it would reject someone who was exceedingly unqualified for the job of BLS commissioner”.

“I hope they go even further and demand nothing less than someone who is very qualified for the job. We will see,” he added.

In a statement, the White House said that Antoni “is a brilliant patriot that will continue to do good work on behalf of our great country”.

“President Trump is committed to fixing the longstanding failures of the BLS that have undermined the public’s trust in critical economic data,” the White House said. “The president plans to announce a new nominee very soon.”

In a social media post after the White House withdrew Antoni’s nomination, the Heritage Foundation’s president, Kevin Roberts, said that “it was undeniable that the BLS needs reform and [Antoni] was the right man for the job”.

“Antoni continues to be one of the sharpest economic minds in the country. EJ’s immense capabilities and insightful economic analysis have not changed – and we’re very proud to have him on our team,” Roberts wrote.

When Trump fired McEntarfer, he claimed that the bureau had “rigged” its July jobs report against him, as it showed initial estimates of new jobs that were added to the economy had been overestimated by 250,000. But the bureau said that the updates came from businesses who answered its surveys, which it uses to collect data that comes in later – common when the economy is facing instability.

Despite Trump’s criticism, economists have largely said that the bureau continues to operate in a nonpartisan manner, emphasizing that trust in the bureau is key as it reports information that shapes markets and policy decisions, including the status of inflation and the labor market.

Dave Hebert, a senior fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, a libertarian thinktank, said that if Antoni had been confirmed, “the integrity of the BLS would have been harmed”.

“The BLS is the gold standard around the world for reliable and accurate economic data,” Herbert added. “Their integrity and independence must be protected if they are to maintain their status as the premier source of economic data in the world today.”

Michael Madowitz, an economist at the liberal Roosevelt Institute and a former member of the data users advisory committee at the BLS, said that the agency, when it’s doing its job properly, should be “beneficial and boring”.

“There are parts of the US government that do economic policy and parts that do public,” Madowitz said. “The concern until last night was putting ideological policy folks in charge of the plumbing, which would create lasting chaos.”

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