E.J. Antoni

E.J. Antoni
Antoni in 2023
Commissioner of Labor Statistics
Presumptive nominee
Assuming office
PresidentDonald Trump
SucceedingErika McEntarfer
Personal details
Born
Erwin John Antoni III

October 1987 (age 37)
Education
Academic background
ThesisFiscal Triumvirate: Analyses of Crowding Out from Deficit Spending, of Domestic Migration from State Taxes, and of the Irrelevance of Credit Ratings on Municipal Debt Yields (2020)
Doctoral advisorCarl Campbell
Academic work
DisciplineFiscal policy, labor economics

Erwin John Antoni III (born October 1987) is an American economist.

Antoni graduated from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary and from Northern Illinois University, earning a doctorate in economics from the latter in 2020. In May 2025, he was promoted to chief economist for The Heritage Foundation. Antoni contributed to Project 2025.

On August 11, 2025, President Donald Trump nominated Antoni to be Commissioner of Labor Statistics following the dismissal of Erika McEntarfer from the post.

Early life and education

Erwin John Antoni III[1] was born in October 1987.[2] Antoni graduated from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary with a Bachelor of Arts.[3] He then graduated from Northern Illinois University with a Master of Arts[3] and later a doctorate in economics in 2020.[4][5]

Career

In May 2025, Antoni was promoted to chief economist for The Heritage Foundation.[6] He is a contributor to Project 2025.[7]

Commissioner of Labor Statistics

In August 2025, president Donald Trump dismissed the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, Erika McEntarfer, hours after a weak jobs report, alleging without evidence that McEntarfer had manipulated the Bureau of Labor Statistics's data for political purposes.[8] Steve Bannon, a former senior advisor to Trump, suggested that Antoni should be nominated as Commissioner of Labor Statistics.[7] That month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Antoni was among several candidates being interviewed to replace McEntarfer.[9] On August 11, 2025, Trump named Antoni as his nominee for Commissioner of Labor Statistics.[10]

Following Antoni's nomination, images resurfaced of him in attendance at the January 6 United States Capitol attack. The White House described Antoni as a "bystander to the events" and denied that he was involved in anything "inappropriate or illegal."[11]

According to The Wall Street Journal:

Past BLS commissioners have had extensive research experience, and many have climbed the ranks of the agency itself. Antoni doesn't fit that profile. He doesn't appear to have published any formal academic research since his dissertation, according to queries of National Bureau of Economic Research working papers and Google Scholar. Much of his commentary on the Heritage website praises Trump's policies and economic record ... According to Google Scholar, Antoni's paper has earned one citation by the Texas Public Policy Foundation in 2021, while he worked there. Publications by Erika McEntarfer ... have been cited 1,327 times.[12]

Views

According to the Washington Post, Antoni "repeatedly referred to Social Security as a 'Ponzi scheme' in a [2024] radio interview".[13] Antoni has also appeared on a podcast in 2024 where he advocated for sunsetting the Social Security program, saying "you'll need a generation of people who pay Social Security taxes but never actually receive any of those benefits".[14]

In May 2025, Antoni decried the Bureau of Labor Statistics's reports as a "random number generator" and criticized the agency's performance in the Biden administration as having yielded "phoney baloney" numbers from "the magical world of make-believe".[10] Appearing on Steve Bannon's podcast, War Room in July, Antoni stated that a commissioner of labor statistics appointed by Trump would result in more accurate information from the bureau.[7] In an interview with Fox Business in August, he suggested that the bureau should suspend its monthly jobs report,[15] an unprecedented action that would also be legally dubious, because release of the monthly Employment Situation report is required by law.[16]

Antoni has frequently used a painting of the German warship Bismarck as a background when conducting interviews. He once described the Nazi-era ship, which was sunk by Allied Forces in 1941, as "hard not to love".[17]

References

  1. ^ Antoni 2020.
  2. ^ Erwin Antoni in the U.S., Index to Public Records, 1994-2019.
  3. ^ a b "August and December Class of 2020". Northern Illinois University, p. 8.
  4. ^ Gurley 2025a.
  5. ^ Brown & Irwin 2025.
  6. ^ Oprysko & Lippman 2025.
  7. ^ a b c Smith 2025.
  8. ^ Romm, Casselman & DePillis 2025.
  9. ^ Schwartz & McGraw 2025.
  10. ^ a b Jones 2025.
  11. ^ "Trump Bureau of Labor Statistics nominee was a 'bystander' outside Capitol on Jan. 6, White House says". NBC News. August 13, 2025. Retrieved August 14, 2025.
  12. ^ Kiernan, Paul (August 12, 2025). "The Partisan Economist Trump Wants to Oversee the Nation's Data". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 13, 2025.
  13. ^ Gurley 2025b.
  14. ^ Rugaber, Christopher; Boak, Josh (August 13, 2025). "Trump's nominee to oversee jobs and inflation data faces shower of criticism". AP News. Retrieved August 14, 2025.
  15. ^ Berkowitz & Peck 2025.
  16. ^ Wallace, Alicia; Goldman, David (August 12, 2025). "Trump's pick for BLS commissioner floated suspending the monthly jobs report before apparently backing off". CNN. Retrieved August 14, 2025.
  17. ^ "E.J. Antoni, Trump's new favorite economist, thinks a Nazi warship is 'hard not to love'".

Works cited

Articles

Journals

Documents

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