Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni, tapped by President Donald Trump to become commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, said in an Aug. 12 Fox Business interview that the agency should stop issuing its closely watched monthly employment report until long-standing methodological problems are resolved. Antoni contends that falling survey response rates—now reportedly below 50 percent—along with outdated economic modeling and statistical assumptions have left the headline figures unreliable and prone to substantial downward revisions. He proposes continuing to publish the less-timely but in his view more accurate quarterly employment data while the agency overhauls its approach. Calls for a suspension intensified after the BLS revised May and June payroll growth down by 258,000 jobs, a correction that led Trump to fire former commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Aug. 1. Antoni maintains the errors stem from structural flaws rather than deliberate manipulation. Halting the monthly report would deprive the Federal Reserve, investors and businesses of one of the economy’s primary real-time indicators, marking the most significant change to U.S. labor statistics in decades. Any move would be subject to Antoni’s Senate confirmation and subsequent rule-making.