E.J. Antoni, the conservative economist President Donald Trump named Monday as his pick to lead the nonpartisan Bureau of Labor Statistics, suggested scrapping the BLS's closely watched monthly jobs report in an Aug. 4 interview with Fox News Digital published Tuesday.

William Beach, the former Trump-appointed BLS commissioner, expressed skepticism that Antoni or any BLS commissioner would actually cease the collection and publication of monthly jobs data, in an interview with TPM. The report is mandated by federal law, and suspending its publication would require an executive order.