President Donald Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer last month, claiming, without evidence, that she manipulated the numbers for “political purposes.”
And his nominee for her replacement, Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni, has already stirred plenty of controversy and drummed up fears of political influence on critical economic data. He has yet to appear before the Senate for a confirmation hearing.
In the meantime, the task of overseeing the collection of employment data has fallen to Acting Commissioner William Wiatrowski, who has served in leadership roles at the BLS for more than two decades.
Most industry experts and past Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioners have noted that the BLS chief has no ability to cook the books on his or her own. They don’t even see the jobs report until it has been completed and have no direct way of influencing or changing the data disseminated in the report.
However, economists fear that a future BLS commissioner with a particular agenda could make changes at the agency that could influence the quality or integrity of the data, perhaps by making key staffing changes, investment cuts or procedural alterations.
There is no suggestion or evidence that Wiatrowski, the acting BLS commissioner, has done or will do anything to alter the monthly data to be reported Friday.
Regardless, Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that the jobs data has been faked, and his firing of McEntarfer, could erode the public’s trust in the BLS’ data going forward.
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