President Trump’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics has drawn surprising opposition from conservative economists, and for good reason.

When Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, the former commissioner, he baselessly denounced her for publishing “rigged” job numbers to make him look bad. Her replacement, whom Trump capitalized as “Highly Respected Economist, Dr. E.J. Antoni,” would supposedly “ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE.”

Don’t count on it.

Almost nobody bought Trump’s claim. Antoni has meager credentials and no relevant experience for leading an agency with over 2,000 employees, responsible for measuring all “labor market activity, working conditions, price changes and productivity in the U.S. economy.”

Antoni is just five years out of graduate school at Northern Illinois University. His only professional jobs have been with right-wing policy shops.

He is currently chief economist at the highly ideological Heritage Foundation, which the Trump administration touted as a major qualification for the Bureau of Labor Statistics position.

Economists from multiple conservative think tanks have weighed in against Antoni’s appointment, citing his inexperience........

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