WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Friday that he is nominating government economist Brett Matsumoto to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after having previously accused the federal agency of releasing low monthly jobs numbers in order to make him look bad.
There is no evidence that the Bureau of Labor Statistics sought to undermine Trump with its data releases, but a string of revisions to prior reports this summer showed that the job market weakened after Trump returned to White House and he fired its director in August.
The president has maintained that the BLS is a troubled agency that had been led by “WEAK and STUPID people,” according to a Friday night social media post. But Trump said that Matsumoto would “Quickly fix” any issues with the agency. Matsumoto has worked as a supervisory research economist at BLS and has been serving as a senior economist for the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
“Brett Matsumoto is a Brilliant, Reputable, and Trusted Economist who will restore GREATNESS to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,” Trump said on Truth Social. Trump said he initially picked E.J. Antoni, the chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank to lead the BLS. But the White House withdrew the nomination in September as Antoni faced sharp criticisms about his qualifications. NBC News also reported that Antoni was in the crowd outside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
Trump had the previous BLS commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, fired after the July jobs report was released in August. That jobs report showed that just 73,000 jobs were added last month and that 258,000 fewer jobs were created in May and June than previously estimated. The July figure has since been revised downward to 72,000.
The BLS also releases an array of economic reports, including the consumer price index that covers inflation. The Wall Street Journal first reported Matsumoto’s selection by Trump. Matsumoto has had a much more limited public profile. He began working as an economist at BLS in 2013 in its price index measurement division and is currently an economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisors, a position he held during Trump’s first term as well. His nomination has garnered early approval from industry leaders.
ReOmkar Sharif, founder of the forecasting firm Inflation Insights, said in a post that Matsumoto is an “extremely solid choice.” “He is a very smart, skilled economist who has 10+ yrs of experience at BLS, Understands the details of the data & limiter of unbiased data,” Sharif said. Skanda Amarnath, executive director of Employ America, an economic policy research and advocacy organization, said in a post that Matsumoto is “a very thoughtful person who understands the nuts and bolts of data measurement and estimation.”
