Russell Weaver

Director of Research, ILR Buffalo Co-Lab

Russell Weaver is a quantitative geographer and Director of Research at the Cornell ILR Buffalo Co-Lab.

Weaver says:

“With the federal government shutting down just days before the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) monthly jobs report, the American people will be deprived of a popular near-real time check on the pulse of the U.S. economy. 

“As evidenced in the ADP National Employment report, consensus expectations among economists are that Friday’s job report would have revealed a month-over-month net loss in the total number of private sector jobs located throughout the nation. 

“In the past four-and-a-half years, or approximately 57 months, the BLS reported month-over-month job losses just once, in June 2025. A second observation of net job losses in the span of just four months would be a telling indicator that all is not well with the American economy.” 

Erica Groshen

Visiting Senior Scholar at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations

The White House is also withdrawing the nomination of E.J. Antoni to lead BLS. Antoni’s nomination was viewed by many as an attempt by Trump to gain greater control over the agency responsible for producing economic data.

Erica Groshen is a senior economic advisor at Cornell University, former commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Groshen says:

“The next BLS Commissioner will face a particularly daunting job, stemming both from current circumstances and long-term challenges for the agency.  I know from my own experience that a new Commissioner has much to learn when they step in. 

“Their path will be easier if they start with a deep professional grounding in economics and federal statistics, a commitment to following the principles and practices that make those statistics trustworthy, and the ability to defend the agency from meddling or unwarranted attacks.”