Trump to appoint E.J. Antoni as new labor statistics commissioner

President Donald Trump introduced Monday that he deliberate to appoint E.J. Antoni as the brand new commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Trump stated in a Reality Social put up that “E.J. will be certain that the Numbers launched are HONEST and ACCURATE.”

Antoni’s deliberate nomination comes after Trump fired former commissioner Erika McEntarfer hours after a weaker-than-expected jobs report on Aug. 1. Trump stated, with out proof, that the roles report for July was “RIGGED in an effort to make the Republicans, and ME, look dangerous.”

Antoni didn’t instantly reply to NBC Information’ request for remark Monday. He’s the chief economist on the conservative Heritage Basis and has written numerous items for the assume tank which can be extremely complimentary of the Trump administration.

Considered one of Antoni’s current studies stated that the June jobs report, earlier than it was revised, was a “dwelling run” for the president.

Steve Bannon, a senior adviser to Trump in his first time period, had been pushing exhausting for Antoni’s nomination. Antoni, a contributor to the Undertaking 2025 coverage rubric, has been a longtime skeptic of BLS knowledge. On Bannon’s podcast final week, Antoni known as for McEntarfer to be fired shortly earlier than Trump pulled the set off.

A number of former BLS commissioners stated after McEntarfer’s firing that the pinnacle of labor statistics doesn’t have a job in compiling the roles report and is simply briefed on its figures shortly earlier than it’s launched to the general public.

In that report, the BLS reported that the U.S. financial system added simply 73,000 jobs in July. The company additionally stated it had revised the Might and June numbers and that they turned out to be decrease than beforehand introduced, by greater than 200,000 jobs.

The BLS routinely revises financial knowledge resembling the roles report, gross home product figures and inflation knowledge. As a result of scale of the U.S. financial system and response charges to BLS surveys, there can typically be lags in knowledge assortment. However that lag doesn’t indicate any wrongdoing or manipulation.