Trump’s latest pick to lead the BLS faces challenging job ahead

After six months without a leader, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) may soon have a commissioner.

On Jan. 30, President Trump named Brett Matsumoto as his nominee to lead the BLS. Matsumoto is a longtime statistician at the government statistical agency, who is known by economists for his nuanced takes on data and also served on the White House Council of Economic Advisors during both Trump administrations. The BLS hasn’t had a permanent commissioner since early August, when Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, claiming, without any evidence, that the jobs report had been “manipulated for political purposes” under her watch.

In some ways, Matsumoto’s nomination might be a breath of fresh air for politicians and those who rely on BLS data, including business leaders. President Trump previously nominated conservative Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni to the role, generating pushback from politicians and economists on both sides of the aisle who warned that Antoni was “utterly unqualified” for the job. Trump ultimately withdrew his nomination.

Matsumoto’s nomination signals that employers who rely on the data won’t need to worry about political interference with BLS processes, sources told HR Brew.

“You don’t want job statistics to be political football. It shouldn’t be that,” said Rick Hermanns, chairman and CEO of staffing firm HireQuest. “People make real decisions that lead to real consequences for real people. And you don’t want that made off of bad information.”

The road ahead. Matsumoto, should he be confirmed to lead the BLS, will lead the agency at a challenging time. Funding for the agency fell more than 22% between 2010 and 2025—and is expected to likely decline further in 2026—and its staff was recently reduced by nearly one-quarter. Limited resources have forced the BLS to suspend some important reports, including the monthly state JOLTS data, which will now publish annually, and struggle to catch up after a record-long government shutdown paused its operations for much of October and November.

“Having somebody who will think hard and strategically about how to continue to deliver in a more challenging era is very important, because if that stuff goes away, we discovered during the government shutdown in the fall, you’re suddenly scrambling to rely on alternate data—that I love having, and is wonderful, and I’m glad to have it, but cannot come close to substituting for BLS data,” Guy Berger, a labor economist and workforce economist in residence at Guild, told HR Brew.

Hermanns expressed frustrations with jobs data revisions—including a downward revision showing the economy added 910,000 fewer jobs than originally reported between April 2024 and March 2025—noting how, for example, a company opening a new plant might consider data about labor shortages or high unemployment rates when deciding on a location. “All those decisions matter, and that’s why you want to base it off of good data,” he said.

Though economists note that the BLS’s initial employment estimates have become more accurate over time, the revisions have sown distrust in the agency’s data.

“There just needs to be an acknowledgement that the numbers have had some pretty significant issues that really do need to be addressed,” Hermanns said.

At the end of the day, according to Berger, the BLS will simply need more funding and staff in order to do a good job. “If you want things to be done right at these agencies, you gotta resource them,” he said.