Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) that is charged with collecting, processing, analyzing, and disseminating essential statistical data about business, finance, employment, and the economy. Other government agencies and many organizations in the private and public sectors heavily rely upon BLS to provide reliable data that is both sweeping in its scope and timely. Its parent organization, the DOL, counts on the BLS to serve as its statistical resource, as does the rest of the federal executive branch, Congress, academic researchers, subnational governmental bodies, private [Page 70]business, labor interests, and ultimately the American public.

BLS has adopted as part of its mission the continual effort to remain relevant to contemporary social and economic issues. It strives for impartiality and data integrity in its statistical reporting. Specifically, BLS follows the Office of Management and Budget's Statistical Policy Directive. Historically, the BLS was established in the late 19th century's period of national expansion and growing economic complexity. The American economy was, and still remains, a rich phenomenon that is accompanied by a large amount of raw data output that can shed light on various aspects of the whole.

In an effort to synthesize the expanse of data into digestible form, BLS conducts survey programs, either themselves or through contracts with the U.S. Bureau of the Census or a cooperating state agency. BLS will then release the gathered data in monthly, quarterly, and annual publications or in periodically published topical reports. Both the chronologically issued reports and the special publications are available in a variety of media including disks and microfiche; however, the most widely used forum for their dissemination is the BLS Web site. Furthermore, the data are available on the Internet at the federal government's multi-agency statistical depository Web site. In addition to these national level reports, the six BLS regional offices (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, and San Francisco) make available unique data as well. While other government agencies work in the economic data area, notably including the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Federal Reserve Board, it is BLS that offers the most diverse data on the economy. BLS leadership has divided its survey programs into six categories: (1) employment and unemployment, (2) prices and living conditions, (3) compensation and working conditions, (4) productivity and technology, (5) employment projections, and (6) international programs.

Mass media outlets frequently report the work of the BLS on topics that interest a great number of citizens. However, in the process of editing and summarizing the data for the sake of brevity, the media rarely explain the methods by which the information is acquired. The primary survey instrument used by the BLS to gather both employment and unemployment data and compensation and working conditions data is their Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is notable because of its sample size and its steady ongoing form, which allows for time series analysis of its results. The survey's 60,000-person sample is drawn from the civilian noninstitutionalized population of the United States that is at least 16 years of age. The basic labor force data are gathered monthly, and special topics are covered on a periodic basis. Because of BLS's compliance with federal privacy guidelines, microdata from individual respondents are not made available. Rather, the data are reported in summary table and aggregate analyses. Information is available for researchers on the population's employment status, broken down by the categories of age, sex, race, Hispanic identity, marital status, family relationship, and Vietnam-era veteran status. The individuals' occupations, industry, class of worker, hours of work, full-time or part-time status, and reasons for working part-time are also included. There are questions posed that are unique to multiple jobholders and discouraged workers as well. The special topic surveys are myriad; they include subjects such as the labor force status of working women with children, and disabled veterans; and also information on work experience, occupational mobility, job tenure, educational attainment, and school enrollment of workers. The results of this survey can be found in BLS-produced sources including the following: The Employment Situation, Employment and Earnings, Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers, and the Monthly Labor Review. Indeed, uses for the data are as diverse, including measuring the potential of the labor supply, determining factors affecting changes in labor force participation of different population groups, and the evaluation of wage rates and earnings trends.

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