Donald Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioner Erika McEntarfer, a veteran economist with decades of experience inside the federal government, after claiming without evidence that official jobs data had been “rigged” against him.
In her place, the US president has lined up an ardent supporter of his agenda accused of regularly misrepresenting and exaggerating statistics, who previously urged Trump’s officials to “take a chainsaw” to the agency he has been tapped to oversee.
EJ Antoni, an economist at the Heritage Foundation and contributor to Project 2025, the rightwing blueprint drawn up ahead of Trump’s re-election, has been nominated by the president to take charge of US government labor statistics. He did not respond to a request for comment.
McEntarfer’s abrupt dismissal had already raised fears in Washington, on Wall Street and far beyond about the integrity of official US government data. Plans to replace her with Antoni – confirmed hours after he had called on the BLS to halt the publication of monthly jobs data – have only heightened concern among leading economists.
“From selectively presenting data from particularly convenient dates to misrepresenting axes to exaggerate magnitudes, he has used all the tricks in the book and shown time and again that he is not a credible source of information,” Dave Hebert, an economist at the American Institute for Economic Research, a conservative thinktank, told the Guardian. “Worse, he has repeatedly shown that he fundamentally misunderstands what some of the data the BLS puts out actually means.
“It’s difficult to imagine someone effectively leading a vital organization like the BLS who cannot correctly define the data they’re putting out.”
After July’s lackluster jobs report, there have been further signs of economic strain under Trump. On Thursday, the producer price index – which measures wholesale inflation – was revealed to have risen 0.9% in July, markedly more than expected, and the biggest monthly increase in three years.
Erika McEntarfer. Photograph: US Department of Labor
But data released under Antoni – who requires confirmation by the US Senate – won’t be believed, according to Hebert. “I have no problem with someone who supports President Trump, but we cannot afford such a partisan person who has neither the credibility nor the ability to generate believable data,” he added.
Antoni was pictured in a crowd of Trump supporters outside the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection in 2021. The White House told NBC News he was just a bystander, in town for meetings.
He is a prolific user of social media, and has frequently appeared on Fox News, Newsmax and other conservative outlets to promote Trump’s policies and arguments.
In July 2024, Antoni quoted a post on X, formerly Twitter, which seemingly claimed the 2020 election was stolen. He has also derided the Federal Reserve; called social security, Medicare and Medicaid “Ponzi schemes”; and frequently cast aspersions on the BLS, which he is now set to lead, joking that the “L” is “silent”. Back in March, he called 10,000 federal government job losses “a fabulous start”.
Responding to a September 2023 article by ZeroHedge, a libertarian and conspiracy theory website, about US men going abroad to find wives, Antoni wrote in a post: “Shortages in domestic markets always encourage imports. The laws of Supply and Demand will not be conned, not in any aspect of life.”
In recent days, Antoni has also stirred controversy online after viewers noticed a painting of a Nazi battleship featured in some of his broadcast interviews.
In a 2023 podcast interview with TFTC, Antoni confirmed the painting to be the Bismarck, used by Nazi Germany’s Kriegsmarine during the second world war. Upon being asked about the painting, he replied: “The Bismarck, yep, in all his glory.”
But it is Antoni’s use of official data that has drawn the most ire among other economists, who have suggested he mischaracterized BLS data about multiple job holders and native-born and foreign-born workers. He has also tried to frame previous revisions by the bureau as part of a Democratic conspiracy under Biden.
Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” “needs to take a chainsaw to the BLS”, Antoni wrote on X in November. Shortly before his nomination to lead the bureau this week, he told Fox News the monthly jobs report should be paused over claims its data is flawed. The White House has since claimed “the plan” is to continue publishing the closely watched report.
“He’s utterly unqualified and as partisan as it gets,” Stan Veuger, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, told the Washington Post.
Daniel Di Martino, a fellow at the conservative thinktank the Manhattan Institute, has previously criticized Antoni for claiming that unemployment rate had been “artificially” reduced. “This is one of the many elementary errors that show me Mr Antoni is unqualified for the labor market data collection and analysis role he was nominated to,” Di Martino wrote on social media this week. “People will discuss credentials but what matters is whether you know what you’re talking about.”
Friends of BLS, a group co-chaired by William Beach, who served as BLS commissioner during Trump’s first term, has urged the Senate to do its due diligence in assessing Antoni’s suitability for the role.
“The unwarranted dismissal of Dr Erika McEntarfer, the 16th Commissioner of Labor Statistics, and the baseless characterization of BLS employment estimates as ’fake’ and ‘rigged’ have undermined public trust in the Bureau’s integrity and the usefulness of its statistics,” the group wrote. “The next Commissioner must not only manage the difficult responsibilities inherent to the role, but also restore public trust, defend the agency against political interference, and accelerate critical modernization efforts across all programs.”
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
