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: Example
      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: Example
      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
    - type: NaftikoCapability
      url: capabilities/bls-public-data-series.yaml
    - type: NaftikoCapability
      url: capabilities/bls-public-data-surveys.yaml
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