U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

aid: u-s-bureau-of-labor-statistics
name: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
description: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the principal federal statistical agency responsible for measuring
  labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the U.S. economy. BLS collects, processes, analyzes, and
  disseminates statistical data on employment, unemployment, inflation, wages, productivity, and occupational safety through
  a public API that provides programmatic access to published historical time series data.
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/u-s-bureau-of-labor-statistics/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
type: Index
created: '2024-12-25'
modified: '2026-05-19'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
tags:
- Federal Government
- Labor
- Statistics
- Employment
- Economic Data
apis:
- aid: u-s-bureau-of-labor-statistics:bls-api
  name: BLS Public Data API
  description: The BLS Public Data API provides programmatic access to published historical time series data covering employment,
    unemployment, consumer prices, wages, productivity, and other labor market indicators. Version 2 (registration required)
    supports up to 50 series per request, 20 years of data, and optional calculations including net and percent changes.
  humanURL: https://www.bls.gov/developers/
  baseURL: https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v2
  tags:
  - Labor Statistics
  - Employment
  - Unemployment
  - Consumer Prices
  - Wages
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.bls.gov/developers/api_signature_v2.htm
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://www.bls.gov/developers/
  - type: Authentication
    url: https://data.bls.gov/registrationEngine/
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/u-s-bureau-of-labor-statistics/refs/heads/main/openapi/bls-public-data-api-openapi.yaml
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/u-s-bureau-of-labor-statistics/refs/heads/main/json-schema/bls-series-data-schema.json
    title: Series Data Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/u-s-bureau-of-labor-statistics/refs/heads/main/json-schema/bls-data-point-schema.json
    title: Data Point Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/u-s-bureau-of-labor-statistics/refs/heads/main/json-schema/bls-survey-schema.json
    title: Survey Schema
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/u-s-bureau-of-labor-statistics/refs/heads/main/json-structure/bls-series-data-structure.json
    title: Series Data Structure
  - type: JSONLD
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/u-s-bureau-of-labor-statistics/refs/heads/main/json-ld/bls-public-data-api-context.jsonld
  - type: Examples
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/u-s-bureau-of-labor-statistics/refs/heads/main/examples/bls-series-data-example.json
    title: Series Data Example
  - type: Examples
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/u-s-bureau-of-labor-statistics/refs/heads/main/examples/bls-data-point-example.json
    title: Data Point Example
common:
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bureau-of-labor-statistics
- type: Website
  url: https://www.bls.gov/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://www.bls.gov/developers/
- type: GettingStarted
  url: https://www.bls.gov/developers/home.htm
- type: PrivacyPolicy
  url: https://www.bls.gov/bls/bls-privacy.htm
- type: FAQ
  url: https://www.bls.gov/developers/api_faqs.htm
- type: SpectralRules
  url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/u-s-bureau-of-labor-statistics/refs/heads/main/rules/bls-public-data-api-rules.yml
- type: Vocabulary
  url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/u-s-bureau-of-labor-statistics/refs/heads/main/vocabulary/u-s-bureau-of-labor-statistics-vocabulary.yaml
- type: Features
  data:
  - name: Time Series Data Access
    description: Retrieve historical labor statistics data using BLS series IDs covering employment, unemployment, CPI, wages,
      and productivity.
  - name: Multiple Series in One Request
    description: Version 2 API allows requesting up to 50 series in a single POST request, returning 20 years of data per
      series.
  - name: Net and Percent Change Calculations
    description: Optional calculations including net change and percent change from prior periods are available in Version
      2 responses.
  - name: Survey Catalog Discovery
    description: Retrieve metadata for all available BLS surveys and discover popular series IDs through the catalog endpoint.
  - name: Annual Averages
    description: Request annual average values (M13 period) alongside monthly data for trend analysis.
  - name: Public API with Free Registration
    description: The BLS API is free to use. Version 1 requires no registration; Version 2 requires a free API key for higher
      query limits.
- type: UseCases
  data:
  - name: Economic Research
    description: Economists and researchers use BLS time series data to analyze labor market trends, wage growth, and employment
      cycles.
  - name: Inflation Monitoring
    description: Track CPI and PPI data for measuring inflation trends across consumer goods, food, energy, and other categories.
  - name: Employment Policy Analysis
    description: Policy analysts use unemployment and employment statistics to evaluate labor market conditions and inform
      policy decisions.
  - name: Dashboard and Application Development
    description: Developers integrate BLS data into economic dashboards, journalism applications, and data visualization tools.
  - name: Academic Research
    description: Universities and think tanks use BLS historical data for econometric modeling, academic papers, and policy
      reports.
- type: Integrations
  data:
  - name: Python blsapi
    description: Open-source Python package for querying the BLS API with support for v1 and v2 endpoints.
  - name: R blsAPI
    description: CRAN R package providing a simple interface to the BLS Public Data API for statistical computing.
  - name: Microsoft Power Platform
    description: BLS connector available in Power Automate, Power Apps, and Copilot Studio for low-code BLS data access.
  - name: data.gov
    description: BLS datasets are cataloged on data.gov as part of the federal open data initiative.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com