President Donald Trump’s recent firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer had many wondering aloud whether future jobs data would still be objective and accurate. Less reliable data, whether real or perceived, would make it harder for business leaders to predict where their organizations are headed and make strategic decisions, experts told CFO Brew.

Trump’s nomination of EJ Antoni, chief economist of the conservative Heritage Foundation, as his next BLS chief didn’t seem to do much to quiet those concerns.

Antoni is a “longtime critic” of how the agency has handled employment data, the Wall Street Journal reported. He can expect some stiff questioning over how he’ll handle any results that may anger Trump, according to Axios, which also noted that economists “worry that Trump aims to politicize the agency.” Antoni also recently suggested the BLS should stop posting its monthly jobs report “until it is corrected.”

Economists were already concerned with Trump’s claims that the BLS rigged jobs numbers to make him look bad. With Antoni potentially leading the bureau, “I think things have the potential to get even hairier,” Abigail Hall, an economics professor at the University of Tampa, told CFO Brew.

Antoni’s criticisms of the BLS “ring some alarm bells with economists who work with this data,” Hall said. Economists may start to question the accuracy of future jobs reports and worry what changes the bureau will make to its research methods, she added.

What can CFOs do about uncertain jobs numbers?—AZ

Spirit Airlines may soon find itself grounded.

The troubled budget carrier has “‘substantial doubt’ about its ability to continue as a going concern over the next year,” according to the Associated Press. In securities filings, it stated that it’s having difficulty meeting its credit card processors’ minimum liquidity requirements, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Spirit, which flies to destinations in the US, the Caribbean, and Central and South America, mentioned “adverse market conditions” as one reason for its struggles. Demand for domestic flights is down, it said, and it expects that trend to continue through the end of this year. Consumers appear to be pulling back on travel spending this summer due to concerns about tariffs and the economy, and lower- and middle-income travelers may opt to drive rather than fly.

Other airlines have also seen softening consumer demand, at least in some income brackets. Delta had a record second quarter, driven by a 5% rise in sales for premium seats, though sales of main cabin seats fell by 5%. It revised its third-quarter EPS guidance downward.

Spirit has had years of financial struggles. It failed to capitalize on the post-pandemic travel boom and lost more than $2.5 billion between 2020 and 2024, per the AP. In 2024, it cut its domestic flights by 20%, and started charging for snacks, drinks, and wi-fi. Despite those measures, it filed for Chapter 11 in November 2024.

Can Spirit Airlines survive?—CV

AI skills are in demand, and HR will need to fork over higher salaries to recruit this talent.

Adding AI skills to job descriptions could cost employers 28% more in annual compensation, a recent report from research firm Lightcast found. AI-related skills can include expertise with large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, as well as prompt engineering, text summarization, and more.

A Lightcast analysis of over 1.3 billion job postings in 2024 found roles advertising at least one AI or generative AI skill offered $18,000 more in annual compensation on average than those that did not. More than half (51%) of these AI roles were not in tech-related industries, up from 44% in 2022.

“AI is becoming more and more pervasive throughout all of the job descriptions that we’re seeing for virtually any different career area,” Cole Napper, VP of research at Lightcast, told HR Brew.

No longer are AI skills only associated with tech or IT roles, Napper said, and the roles that are seeing the biggest rise in AI skill demand are recruiters and HR pros.

Companies that don’t keep up with this trend, he said, could miss out on talent.

Continue reading HR Brew’s story on how much more AI talent might cost here.—MC

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