President Donald Trump plans to tap economist Brett Matsumoto to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics, according to two people familiar with the decision.
Matsumoto is a senior economist on Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers and is currently on leave from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, where he has worked in nonpolitical roles since 2015. Matsumoto did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The White House has decided to nominate Matsumoto to the job, according to the people familiar with the decision, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the president has yet to make an announcement. The Senate would have to confirm the nomination.
BLS has been without a permanent leader since August when Trump fired its previous commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, after a report revealed a weaker-than-expected job market.
Matsumoto, a career staffer, will lead the independent agency that produces nonpartisan data on jobs, prices, wages and other topics that is used widely, including by the Federal Reserve to set interest rates — as well as by the president, Congress and businesses trying to assess the state of the economy.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
BLS is an agency within the Labor Department with a Senate-confirmed commissioner.
Matsumoto received his PhD in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BS from the University of Delaware.
The choice is likely to alleviate concerns among economists and Wall Street investors that the head of this agency would be driven by politics.
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