President Donald Trump's choice to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has suggested discontinuing the monthly release of the agency's vital jobs report.
Conservative economist EJ Antoni, who has long been critical of the bureau, presented this idea during an interview with Fox News that was published online on Tuesday.
This proposal has sparked fresh concerns regarding the agency's future and the dependability of its data, which is utilized by political leaders, investors, and average citizens to gauge the economic health of the wealthiest nation in the world.
Trump dismissed the previous commissioner earlier this month after the agency announced a significant decline in job growth.
Trump accused Commissioner Erika McEntarfer of manipulating the figures, a claim that was largely dismissed by economists.
They similarly criticized his selection of Antoni, asserting that his economic analyses were filled with fundamental errors.
Following the interview's publication, an economist with past Republican ties remarked: "Senators who confirm Antoni are effectively voting to dismantle the BLS and its job statistics."
"The articles and tweets I have seen from him are perhaps the most error-riddled of any economist from a think tank at this moment," Jessica Riedl, a senior fellow at another conservative institution, the Manhattan Institute, wrote on social media as well.
Antoni, currently a federal budget analyst at the Heritage Foundation, has a history of opposing the BLS. He has referred to its statistics as "phony baloney" and last year recommended that the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) "take a chainsaw to the BLS".
In the Fox interview, he claimed that the jobs report, which details the national unemployment rate, the number of jobs created in the past month, and additional information, is unreliable.
"It's a significant issue that requires urgent attention," Antoni stated in the Fox interview, which took place before Trump's appointment of him as BLS head.
"Until it is rectified, the BLS should halt the release of the monthly job reports but continue to publish the more precise, albeit less timely, quarterly data," he added.
Senator Bill Cassidy, the Republican chair of the Senate committee that will evaluate her appointment, had criticized McEntarfer following a major adjustment to employment statistics last year, asserting that the reports had become less reliable during her tenure.
He mentioned in a statement that he would have a meeting with Antoni, emphasizing the need for a BLS Commissioner dedicated to delivering precise, impartial economic data to the American public.
However, following the Fox interview release, a prominent Democrat on the committee, Patty Murray, took to X to express that "Any Senator who supports this partisan hack's confirmation is undermining the integrity of our nation's essential economic and job statistics that are critical to our economy."
She further declared that she feared the BLS data would turn into "make-believe" under Antoni's administration.
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that it was "the intention and anticipation" for the BLS to keep producing monthly job reports while reiterating critiques concerning the agency's statistics.
"We need to scrutinize the methodologies and techniques through which the BLS gathers this vital data," she noted. "The objective is, of course, to ensure transparency and quality data for the American populace."
The dispute regarding the BLS occurs amid intensified discussions surrounding the US economy and the potential impact of significant new tariffs on rising costs for both businesses and consumers, as well as economic growth.
The latest BLS reports indicated a drop in job growth coupled with ongoing price increases, although these were consistent with last month’s rate.
While private firms also conduct surveys to assess inflation and hiring trends, their results are often viewed as less trustworthy compared to government data.
The Trump administration has implemented other measures aimed at diminishing long-standing—and at times fundamental—government operations.
His education secretary, Linda McMahon, has committed to dismantling the department under her leadership, while Lee Zeldin, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has shifted his agency's focus toward deregulation, recently revealing a strategy to eliminate a significant finding that greenhouse gases adversely affect the environment.
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