Brett Matsumoto, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, told lawmakers he was committed to maintaining the integrity and independence of the agency.
“I believe strongly in the mission of the BLS to produce objective, quality measures and analyses of labor market activity, working conditions, price changes, and productivity in the United States economy to support public and private decision-making,” he said Wednesday in remarks before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
“It is important for the public to be confident that decisions at the BLS are being driven by science rather than politics,” he said.
Matsumoto added that any changes in methodology that impact BLS data would be approved by career staff at the agency and communicated with the public ahead of time.
Matsumoto was questioned about how he would handle criticism and pressure from the president, in light of Trump’s decision to fire former commissioner Erika McEntarfer last August after steep downward revisions to job growth.
Trump claimed at the time, without evidence, that the jobs numbers had been manipulated for political purposes. The sudden dismissal prompted worries about the quality and integrity of the data going forward.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the ranking member on the HELP committee, said Wednesday he would not support Matsumoto’s nomination because McEntarfer was well-qualified and there was no evidence she did anything inappropriate. If the committee votes to advance the nomination, it will go to the full Senate for a confirmation vote that requires a simple majority.
Matsumoto declined to comment on McEntarfer’s dismissal but said he believes there are technical reasons that explain the downward revisions. He said he doesn’t believe Trump would ask him to change the numbers the BLS publishes. Matsumoto pledged to publish the statistics compiled by BLS staff and release them as scheduled.
“Fulfilling the mission of the BLS to accurately measure this data does require independence from political interference,” Matsumoto said. “If confirmed, I fully commit to maintaining the integrity and independence of the BLS.”
Next Steps
Matsumoto would serve a four-year term as commissioner if confirmed, leading the US data agency responsible for publishing reports on US jobs and inflation. The BLS commissioner is the only political appointee in an agency of roughly 2,000 people that considers itself as an independent, nonpartisan institution.
Matsumoto had early backing from the broader statistics community heading into Wednesday’s hearing. A PhD economist whom Trump picked for the top job earlier this year, Matsumoto arrived at BLS in 2015. He’d recently been on leave from the agency to serve at the White House Council of Economic Advisers as a senior economist.
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Trump’s earlier decision to name the Heritage Foundation’s EJ Antoni to head the BLS amplified concerns about public trust in the data. His nomination, which drew criticism from both left- and right-leaning economists, was later withdrawn .
Matsumoto fielded questions on a range of challenges facing the agency, including declining survey response rates and funding adequacy. While he wants to examine the impact of falling response rates on the data, Matsumoto said there will eventually be “an end date to the survey-based system.” The BLS should be preparing to address that, including by researching ways to incorporate alternative data, he said.