While conservative circles had praised Antoni, several of his colleagues, who are independent economists, caution him and respond that any nomination of him to this position could cast doubt on the independence or integrity of the BLS.
Although the White House did not disclose the reasons for the withdrawal of the nomination, it communicated that the President intends to submit a new candidate for the role.
Political Friction Over Jobs Data
In a statement, a White House official held up Antoni to the media as "a brilliant economist and an American patriot" while asserting that Trump is committed to solving the BLS's "years of issues" that Trump argued had undermined public confidence in the underlying statistics. Importantly, the nominee would still require confirmation of the offer by the U.S. Senate, which is currently composed of a Republican majority. The impending nomination has received attention in light of Trump's increased focus on the BLS with his regular critiques of the models used to generate its various jobs data.
Trump has criticized the BLS on many occasions, accusing it of stifling information detrimental to his reputation. Before, he had claimed McEntarfer inappropriately altered the job data. The August jobs report, which only recorded employers added 73,000 in July compared to the expectation of 109,000, did not help McEntarfer or the President's interests. His firing of McEntarfer had subsequently received appropriate public scorn as an "overly political" version of production jobs data.
Who is E.J. Antoni
Antoni is currently an economist at the Heritage Foundation and previously held a similar role at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, both of which are conservative think tanks. A close ally of Trump, Antoni has routinely dismissed the BLS employment numbers as unreliable to the President's agenda for economic growth, calling it "phoney baloney". Upon announcing the nomination in August, President Trump confirmed Anton's nomination would render credible economic information in a manner that made employment statistics "honest and accurate."
Kevin Roberts, who is president of Heritage Foundation, praised E.J. Antoni as "one of the sharpest economic minds in the country," and confirmed he will remain in his role as chief economist at Heritage Foundation. Roberts reiterated that, as part of determining the nomination was appropriate, the BLS needed conventional reforms, while also expressing that E.J. Antoni would have been an appropriate leader for the agency.
