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

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Recruitment & Retention

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

The president nominated career labor statistician Brett Matsumoto to lead the agency late last month.

By Paige McGlauflin
February 10, 2026 • 3 min read

Paige McGlauflin is a reporter for HR Brew covering recruitment and retention.

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.

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