The White House reportedly withdrew conservative economist E.J. Antoni‘s nomination to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Tuesday.
A White House official praised Antoni and said the president will soon nominate a new candidate to lead BLS, reported NBC News..
Trump’s Pick To Fix BLS Failures
U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Antoni, the chief economist at the right-wing think tank Heritage Foundation, in August. The nomination came shortly after he fired BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Aug. 1, midway through her term, following a weak jobs report.
BLS prides itself on being a non-partisan agency responsible for compiling key economic indicators, such as monthly jobs reports and inflation data. The reports are among the most-watched indicators for the health of the world’s largest economy.
However, a sharp slowdown in jobs growth over the summer drew heavy criticism from Trump, who claimed the data were rigged.
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Sceptical Nominee
Antoni has been a vocal critic of the BLS, and even suggested suspending the monthly jobs report until issues were “corrected.” His nomination drew criticism from right and left-leaning economists and statisticians who said he lacked the qualifications to serve as BLS commissioner.
Antoni earned his PhD in economics in 2020 from Northern Illinois University. He contributed to Project 2025 and is also a senior fellow at Unleash Prosperity.
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