President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggested ending the monthly jobs report after the president raged about July’s numbers.
E.J. Antoni, who Trump tapped on Monday to lead the bureau, argued in an interview Tuesday with Fox Business that the data behind the monthly reports was unreliable and that it should be suspended.
“Until it is corrected, the BLS should suspend issuing the monthly job reports but keep publishing the more accurate, though less timely, quarterly data,” Antoni said.
He argued that “major decision-makers from Wall Street to D.C. rely on these numbers, and a lack of confidence in the data has far-reaching consequences.”
“How on earth are businesses supposed to plan – or how is the Fed supposed to conduct monetary policy – when they don’t know how many jobs are being added or lost in our economy? It’s a serious problem that needs to be fixed immediately,” Antoni said.
Trump announced he was nominating Antoni to lead the bureau in a post on Monday, in which he claimed “E.J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE.”
It comes after the White House blasted BLS following the July jobs report, which showed the economy added 73,000 jobs last month. It also revised May and June’s jobs numbers downward by a combined 258,000.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Antoni would need to be confirmed by the Senate to become the next BLS commissioner.
This story is developing and will be updated.
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