Trump’s pick to lead statistics bureau was a contributer to Project 2025

Editor’s note: “Behind the News” is the product of Sun staff assisted by the Sun’s AI lab, which includes a variety of tools such as Anthropic’s Claude, Perplexity AI, Google Gemini and ChatGPT.

President Donald Trump announced Monday his nomination of E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, to serve as commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The appointment requires U.S. Senate confirmation [1].

Antoni would replace Erika McEntarfer, whom Trump fired Aug. 1 following a disappointing July jobs report that showed hiring had stalled and included substantial downward revisions to previous months’ employment figures. Trump accused McEntarfer, an appointee of President Joe Biden, of manipulating data for “political purposes,” though he provided no evidence for these claims [2].

Antoni’s background

Antoni is an economist widely recognized for his association with conservative think tanks, particularly the Heritage Foundation, where he serves as chief economist and Richard Aster fellow in the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget [3]. He holds both master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from Northern Illinois University.

Antoni’s career includes teaching labor economics, money and banking, and holding research and economist roles at organizations such as the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, as well as consulting for FreedomWorks [4]. He is a frequent commentator in major media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Fox Business and Bloomberg, as well as conservative media.

Antoni has testified before Congress, contributed to economic reports and published research focused on fiscal and monetary policy, often from a strong supply-side, free-market perspective [5].

Antoni’s criticism of the statistics bureau

Antoni has been a frequent and outspoken critic of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, targeting both its methodology and the perceived accuracy of its data:

• Methodology critique: Antoni has repeatedly argued that the bureau’s systems for collecting, processing and revising jobs data are deeply flawed. He has called for a “top to bottom” review of how the agency operates and stated, “There are better ways to collect, process and disseminate data,” suggesting that current methods do not ensure accuracy or timeliness [6].
• Data reliability concerns: Antoni has publicly questioned the reliability of official statistics, referring to some bureau figures as “phoney baloney” and labeling certain Consumer Price Index revisions as an “Orwellian trick.” He has argued that the growing use of “imputed data” to fill gaps — especially as survey response rates decline — raises doubts about reported inflation and employment rates. By 2025, 35% of consumer price data was being imputed, which Antoni highlighted as undermining confidence in headline metrics [7].
• Calls for reform: Antoni has joked about the bureau’s reliability, saying “the ‘L’ is silent in BLS’s name” and has advocated for drastic changes to the agency.[8].

Antoni’s role in Project 2025

The Heritage Foundation, where Antoni has played a leading role, is the architect behind Project 2025 — a comprehensive blueprint and transition plan for a future Trump administration. Project 2025 lays out an agenda to overhaul the federal bureaucracy, increase presidential control over executive agencies, and implement broad conservative reforms. The project specifically aims to “deconstruct the administrative state” and often recommends eliminating protections for career civil servants [9][10].

As a key contributor to Project 2025 and its economic chapters, Antoni is not just a participant but an architect of these plans. Key features relevant to BLS leadership include:

• Centralization of power: The project aims to place traditionally independent entities — including the BLS — firmly under executive control, reducing safeguards against political interference in federal statistics and analyses [11].
• Political appointments and agency overhaul: Project 2025 explicitly calls for replacing career civil servants with ideologically vetted appointees loyal to administration goals, fundamentally restructuring how agencies like the BLS operate [12].
• Consolidation and “efficiency” reforms: The blueprint recommends consolidating statistical agencies (like the BLS, Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis) to further centralize control over economic data, making them more vulnerable to direction by political appointees [13].

Concerns about data manipulation

Critics fear that Antoni’s appointment could lead to data manipulation due to several factors:

• Ideological alignment: Antoni’s vocal criticism of BLS methodologies combined with his alignment with Project 2025’s blueprint for centralized control raises concerns that he was chosen not for nonpartisan expertise, but to reshape data collection and reporting to serve specific political narratives [15].
• Removal of safeguards: Project 2025’s recommendations to remove traditional civil service protections and install loyalists in key positions would reduce barriers to direct political influence in agencies meant to be objective and technocratic [16].
• Precedent and timing: Antoni’s nomination following Trump’s firing of the previous BLS commissioner after a politically damaging jobs report suggests a willingness to remove perceived obstacles and install appointees more likely to deliver favorable data [17].

Implications for national policy

• Data integrity and public trust: The BLS’s independence has traditionally been paramount in ensuring public and market trust. Economists, public policy analysts and watchdog organizations express concern that appointing such a vocal critic of the bureau, selected after firing a commissioner for publishing politically inconvenient data, could jeopardize the objectivity and credibility of the nation’s most critical economic statistics [18].
• Structural long-term changes: By embedding loyalists and changing agency structures, Project 2025 aims to ensure these shifts endure beyond a single administration, fundamentally altering how federal data is created and used in policymaking. Antoni’s appointment could mark a turning point in the politicization of national data, setting the direction of U.S. economic policy, labor statistics and agency independence for years to come [19].

Why is Trump replacing bureau chief?

Trump gave several specific public reasons for dismissing McEntarfer:

• He claimed, without evidence, that the commissioner “faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory,” alleging that the monthly employment statistics were rigged and manipulated for political purposes, which he argued made his administration and the Republicans look bad[21][22][23].
• Trump emphasized the need for “accurate Jobs Numbers” and stated that the data “can’t be manipulated for political purposes,” suggesting that McEntarfer’s reporting was deliberate and politically motivated because she was a Biden appointee[22][21].
• The president specifically cited the disappointing July jobs report, which showed only 73,000 jobs added and included major downward revisions to the prior two months (258,000 fewer jobs than initially reported), labeling these revisions as “errors” and evidence of manipulation[24][25][22].
• Trump also stated he was seeking a “highly qualified” individual to replace McEntarfer, claiming her leadership and the bureau’s data collection methods required modernization[25].

There are no official investigations backing Trump’s accusations of data manipulation concerning the jobs reports.

While Trump publicly claimed the BLS commissioner “rigged” employment numbers for political reasons, independent fact-checkers, economists, and government agencies have found no basis for his allegations.

Recent news reports confirm that, despite condemnation and controversy over the firing, there has been no official inquiry or evidence validating Trump’s assertion of intentional data manipulation within the BLS[26].

Sources

[1] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-bureau-of-labor-statistics-nominee-ej-antoni/

[2] https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/11/business/bls-nominee-trump

[3] https://www.heritage.org/staff/ej-antoni-phd

[4] https://www.texaspolicy.com/about/people/e-j-antoni/

[5] https://www.jagranjosh.com/us/trending/ej-antoni-biography-1860000803

[6] https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20250811316/trump-picks-conservative-economist-ej-antoni-to-lead-bureau-of-labor-statistics

[7] https://www.ainvest.com/news/political-interference-economic-data-erosion-trust-rise-alternative-data-sources-2508/

[8] https://www.newsbreak.com/fort-worth-llc-333211895/4170374885359-trump-picks-new-head-of-labor-statistics-after-firing-old-one-over-weak-jobs-report

[9] https://afscmeatwork.org/system/files/wfse_project_2025_summary.pdf

[10] https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-nominates-project-2025-mastermind-ej-antoni-to-be-put-in-charge-of-bureau-of-labor-statistics/

[11] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c977njnvq2do

[12] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-names-heritage-ej-antoni-231102700.html

[13] https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-05_Peoples-Guide-Pro-2025.pdf

[15] https://www.axios.com/2025/08/11/trump-bls-jobs-labor-statistics-ej-antoni

[16] https://www.govexec.com/transition/2025/04/project-2025-wanted-hobble-federal-workforce-doge-has-hastily-done-and-more/404390/

[17] https://www.friendsofbls.org/updates/2025/8/1/statement-on-commissioner-mcentarfers-removal

[18] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/business/economy/trump-bls-commissioner.html

[19] https://apnews.com/article/trump-project-2025-biden-9d372469033d23e1e3aef5cf0470a2e6

[21] https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/trump-orders-firing-bls-commissioner-weak-jobs-report-rcna222531

[22] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/01/trump-erika-mcentarfer-jobs-report-fired.html

[23] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/firing-of-labor-statistics-head-undermines-trust-in-key-data-ex-trump-official-warns

[24] https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-defends-firing-labor-official-critics-warn-trust-erosion-2025-08-04/

[25] https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/04/politics/bls-commissioner-trump-firing-decision

[26] https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2025/8/4/white-house-advisers-defend-trumps-firing-of-official-behind-jobs-data