Bureau of Labor Statistics Surveys API

openapi: 3.0.3
info:
  title: BLS Public Data Surveys API
  description: 'The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Public Data API provides programmatic access to the full catalog of official federal labor and economic statistics published by the U.S. Department of Labor. The API delivers historical time-series data spanning employment, unemployment rates, Consumer Price Index (CPI), Producer Price Index (PPI), wages and earnings, and productivity metrics drawn from major BLS surveys.

    Two versions are available: Version 1.0 (unauthenticated, up to 25 series per request, 10 years of data per query) and Version 2.0 (requires free registration, up to 50 series per request, 20 years of data, adds catalog metadata, net/percent change calculations, and optional annual averages). Responses are served in JSON format via HTTPS POST requests.'
  version: '2.0'
  contact:
    name: Bureau of Labor Statistics
    url: https://www.bls.gov/developers/home.htm
  license:
    name: Public Domain (U.S. Government Work)
    url: https://www.usa.gov/government-works
servers:
- url: https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v2
  description: BLS Public Data API Version 2.0 (registration required)
- url: https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v1
  description: BLS Public Data API Version 1.0 (no registration required)
tags:
- name: Surveys
  description: Retrieve the list of available BLS surveys
paths:
  /surveys:
    get:
      operationId: getSurveys
      summary: Retrieve list of available BLS surveys
      description: Returns the complete list of BLS surveys available through the Public Data API, including survey abbreviations and full names.
      tags:
      - Surveys
      parameters:
      - name: registrationkey
        in: query
        required: false
        description: BLS API registration key (recommended for higher rate limits).
        schema:
          type: string
      responses:
        '200':
          description: List of available BLS surveys
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/SurveysResponse'
              examples:
                surveys:
                  summary: Sample surveys response
                  value:
                    status: REQUEST_SUCCEEDED
                    responseTime: 50
                    message: []
                    Results:
                      survey:
                      - survey_name: Consumer Price Index - All Urban Consumers
                        survey_abbreviation: CU
                      - survey_name: Current Employment Statistics - CES (National)
                        survey_abbreviation: CE
                      - survey_name: Local Area Unemployment Statistics
                        survey_abbreviation: LA
  /survey/{survey_abbreviation}:
    get:
      operationId: getSurveyDetails
      summary: Retrieve details for a specific BLS survey
      description: Returns details for a specific BLS survey identified by its abbreviation, including available series lookups.
      tags:
      - Surveys
      parameters:
      - name: survey_abbreviation
        in: path
        required: true
        description: Two-letter BLS survey abbreviation (e.g., CU for CPI, CE for Current Employment Statistics, LA for Local Area Unemployment).
        schema:
          type: string
          example: CU
      - name: registrationkey
        in: query
        required: false
        description: BLS API registration key.
        schema:
          type: string
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Survey details
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/SurveyDetailResponse'
components:
  schemas:
    SurveysResponse:
      type: object
      properties:
        status:
          type: string
          example: REQUEST_SUCCEEDED
        responseTime:
          type: integer
        message:
          type: array
          items:
            type: string
        Results:
          type: object
          properties:
            survey:
              type: array
              items:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/Survey'
    SurveyDetailResponse:
      type: object
      properties:
        status:
          type: string
          example: REQUEST_SUCCEEDED
        responseTime:
          type: integer
        message:
          type: array
          items:
            type: string
        Results:
          type: object
          properties:
            survey:
              type: array
              items:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/SurveyDetail'
    SurveyDetail:
      type: object
      properties:
        survey_name:
          type: string
        survey_abbreviation:
          type: string
        series:
          type: array
          items:
            type: object
            properties:
              series_id:
                type: string
              series_title:
                type: string
    Survey:
      type: object
      properties:
        survey_name:
          type: string
          description: Full name of the BLS survey.
          example: Consumer Price Index - All Urban Consumers
        survey_abbreviation:
          type: string
          description: Two-letter abbreviation used as the survey prefix in series IDs.
          example: CU
  securitySchemes:
    apiKeyQuery:
      type: apiKey
      in: query
      name: registrationkey
      description: BLS API registration key. Required for Version 2.0 features (catalog metadata, calculations, annual averages, higher rate limits). Obtain for free at https://data.bls.gov/registrationEngine/.
    apiKeyBody:
      type: apiKey
      in: header
      name: registrationkey
      description: BLS API registration key passed in the JSON request body for POST requests.
externalDocs:
  description: BLS Developer Documentation
  url: https://www.bls.gov/developers/home.htm