According to media reports, Antoni contributed to Project 2025, a controversial conservative policy blueprint aimed at advancing Trump’s agenda in a potential second term.
President Donald Trump’s nomination of E.J. Antoni to the post of Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics has not gone down well with Harvard economic professor Jason Furman.
Expressing his opinion on X, Furman said, “E.J. Antoni is completely unqualified to be BLS Commissioner. He is an extreme partisan and does not have any relevant expertise.”
“He would be a break from decades of nonpartisan technocrats.”
Furman had previously served as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) under former President Barack Obama.
Replying to a question from former Department of Justice attorney Joe Sims about whether Furman was worried about the new BLS appointee cooking the books, the Harvard professor said, “I’m skeptical he can cook the books but worried.”
“He is 5 years out of his PhD, has only worked in highly partisan organizations, has not worked on government data or with stakeholders, has said crazy/false things about BLS, and has no management experience.”
Furman also cited a former U.S. Commerce Department Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, who said an ideal BLS commissioner should be a “ground-breaking” innovator in big data — particularly in leveraging administrative records — with a deep understanding of both the strengths and challenges of statistical agencies, as well as the needs and concerns of stakeholders.
Trump fired former Commissioner Erika McEntarfer earlier this month following soft July payroll numbers and downward revisions to previous months’ data. The president called the data the “biggest miscalculations in over 50 years,” and alleged it was twisted deliberately to make his economic performance look bad.
According to media reports, Antoni currently serves at the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation as its budget analyst and contributed to Project 2025, a controversial conservative policy blueprint designed to advance Trump’s agenda in a potential second term. The Wall Street Journal also noted that Antoni, backed by former White House adviser Steve Bannon, called for McEntarfer’s removal as BLS chief on Bannon’s podcast after a weak July jobs report.
Despite Trump’s tariffs and political moves that influence equities, the market has held its own, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 Indices trading just shy of their records. The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the Nasdaq 100 Index, and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) are up 12.35% and 9.15%, respectively, for the year.
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward the QQQ ETF worsened to ‘neutral’ by late Monday from ‘bullish’ a day ago, and that toward the SPY ETF stayed ‘neutral.’ The message volume on both ETF streams remained ‘normal.’
Announcing Antoni’s nomination on Truth Social, Trump said late Monday that “I am pleased to announce that I am nominating Highly Respected Economist, Dr. E.J. Antoni, as the next Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”
“Our Economy is booming, and E.J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE,” he said, adding that “I know E.J. Antoni will do an incredible job in this new role. Congratulations E.J.!”
Furman also recently commented about Trump’s nomination of CEA Chair Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve Board to serve as a member through the unexpired term of Adriana Kugler. Speaking on CNBC, Furman said intellectually, Miran is up to the demands of the job, but admitted he was worried about the independence of the central bank.
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