MNI BRIEF: White House 'Hopes' Jobs Report Released Monthly

The White House on Tuesday said it expects the Bureau of Labor Statistics to continue to produce monthly jobs reports and going forward it will assess new means and methods for gathering key data that Wall Street so carefully analyzes. 

"That is the plan and that's the hope," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, when asked if the administration expects the BLS to continue to release monthly jobs reports. "There has certainly been a decline in the quality and the reliability of data coming from the Bureau of Labor Statistics," she told reporters. 

E.J. Antoni, the economist tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in an interview before his nomination suggested suspending the agency’s closely watched monthly jobs report. (See: MNI INTERVIEW: Mounting BLS Pressure Harmful For Data- Groshen) 

"We need to look at the means and the methods of how the United States is acquiring this very important data," Leavitt said. "The goal of course is to provide honest and good data for the American people to make very important economic decisions on."