US President Donald Trump on 11 August nominated E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, to serve as commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Antoni would replace Erika McEntarfer, whom Trump dismissed on 1 August after the agency reported the addition of just 73,000 jobs in July and revised employment gains for May and June down by a combined 258,000 positions. Antoni is a longstanding critic of the bureau’s data‐collection methods. In a Fox Business interview recorded on 4 August and broadcast on 12 August, he argued that the BLS should suspend its market-moving monthly payroll report and issue only quarterly figures until what he called ‘fundamental flaws’ in survey methodology are fixed. He cited falling response rates and repeated downward revisions as evidence that the current models no longer capture post-pandemic labour-market dynamics. The proposal has alarmed economists who rely on the report to gauge hiring momentum and guide decisions from Federal Reserve policy to corporate staffing plans. Analysts warn that any perceived politicisation of BLS statistics could undermine confidence in indicators such as the Consumer Price Index, which anchors Social Security cost-of-living increases and the $2 trillion Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities market. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration ‘plans and hopes’ to keep the monthly release schedule, while acknowledging Antoni’s concerns about data quality. Antoni must be confirmed by the Senate, where lawmakers from both parties have already signalled scrutiny of his qualifications and intentions. Any significant methodological overhaul at the bureau would be subject to lengthy public-notice requirements, limiting the scope for rapid changes.