Context

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics and serves as a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System. The BLS is a governmental statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data to the American public, the U.S. Congress, other Federal agencies, State and local governments, business, and labor representatives. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Labor_Statistics

Content

Bureau of Labor Statistics including CPI (inflation), employment, unemployment, and wage data.

Update Frequency: Monthly

Querying BigQuery Tables

Fork this kernel to get started.

Acknowledgements

https://bigquery.cloud.google.com/dataset/bigquery-public-data:bls

https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/public-data/bureau-of-labor-statistics

Dataset Source: http://www.bls.gov/data/

This dataset is publicly available for anyone to use under the following terms provided by the Dataset Source - http://www.data.gov/privacy-policy#data_policy - and is provided "AS IS" without any warranty, express or implied, from Google. Google disclaims all liability for any damages, direct or indirect, resulting from the use of the dataset.

Banner Photo by Clark Young from Unsplash.

Inspiration

What is the average annual inflation across all US Cities? What was the monthly unemployment rate (U3) in 2016? What are the top 10 hourly-waged types of work in Pittsburgh, PA for 2016?

This layer contains the latest 14 months of unemployment statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The data is offered at the nationwide, state, and county geography levels. Puerto Rico is included. These are not seasonally adjusted values. The layer is updated monthly with the newest unemployment statistics available from BLS. There are attributes in the layer that specify which month is associated to each statistic. Most current month: August 2025 (preliminary values at the state and county level) The attributes included for each month are:Unemployment rate (%)Count of unemployed populationCount of employed population in the labor forceCount of people in the labor force Data obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Data downloaded: October 1, 2025Local Area Unemployment Statistics table download: https://www.bls.gov/lau/#tablesLocal Area Unemployment FTP downloads:State and CountyNation Data Notes:This layer is updated automatically when the BLS releases their most current monthly statistics. The layer always contains the most recent estimates. It is updated within days of the BLS"s county release schedule. BLS releases their county statistics roughly 2 months after-the-fact. The data is joined to 2023 TIGER boundaries from the U.S. Census Bureau.Monthly values are subject to revision over time.For national values, employed plus unemployed may not sum to total labor force due to rounding.As of the January 2022 estimates released on March 18th, 2022, BLS is reporting new data for the two new census areas in Alaska - Copper River and Chugach - and historical data for the previous census area - Valdez Cordova.As of the March 17th, 2025 release, BLS now reports data for 9 planning regions in Connecticut rather than the 8 previous counties. To better understand the different labor force statistics included in this map, see the diagram below from BLS:

Context

A striking graph from the Social Security Administration (https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/factsheets/at-a-glance/earnings-men-1988-2018.html) shows that median annual earnings for all men above the age of 20 have decreased since 1988: https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/factsheets/at-a-glance/earnings-men-1988-2018.svg" alt="">

I wanted to better understand how educational attainment has played a role in the above trend, and to come up with a model to forecast the future trend for earnings by educational attainment.

As I began looking at the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, there was a striking trend: the median weekly earnings for all groups of people who did not have a bachelors degree or higher had decreased from 1979 levels, in constant 2020 dollars.

Content

I collated data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (https://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpsatab4.htm) and (https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswktabs.htm) and the US Census Bureau (https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-income-people.html) to create this dataset.

I have omitted details of gender and race, to solely look at the correlation between educational attainment and median weekly earnings over the years. All of the data is for ages 25 and higher unless otherwise stated in the column header.

An important note is that all the earnings data are in constant base 2020 dollars. This removes the effects of inflation and makes it possible to compare the numbers over the years.

The data starts at the year 1960, but unfortunately only overall labor force data, and population percentages of persons with a high school graduation (HSG) and persons with a Bachelors or Higher Degree are available. Median weekly earnings data categorized by educational attainment is available from 1979 onwards, while labor force data i.e., labor force level, labor force participation rate and the employment level by educational attainment is available only from 1992 onwards.

The only columns that have data from 1960 onwards are: (i) overall labor force level, (ii) civilian non-institutional population level, (iii) overall labor force participation rate, (iv) overall employment level, (v) overall percentage of high school graduates, and (vi) overall percentage of persons with a bachelors degree or higher.

Some of the columns can be calculated from other columns, for instance the civilian non-institutional population level can be calculated from the labor force participation rate.

Acknowledgements

All of this data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Census Bureau: https://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpsatab4.htm , https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswktabs.htm and https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-income-people.html .

A big thank you to all those who worked so hard to collect and organize this data.

Inspiration

The main question is: what is the best way to generate forecasts for median weekly earnings for each educational attainment level?

📊 Dataset Description:

This dataset is sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Employment Situation – Table A-42. It provides detailed insights into employment and unemployment trends by educational attainment for individuals aged 25 years and older in the United States.

🌐 Source:

~**Publisher:** U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

~**Table Reference:** CPS Table A-42 – Unemployed persons by duration of unemployment

~**URL:** https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea42.htm

~**Update Frequency:** Monthly (as part of the Employment Situation release)

📑 Dataset Overview:

---The dataset includes:

~Year and Month of observation

~Employment and Unemployment counts

~Unemployment rates categorized by educational attainment, such as:

~Less than a high school diploma

~High school graduates, no college

~Some college or associate degree

~Bachelor’s degree and higher

🎯 Potential Uses:

~Analyze how education level impacts unemployment rates.

~Study long-term labor market trends across different demographics.

~Build forecasting models for employment/unemployment rates.

~Perform policy analysis to understand the role of education in job security.

⚠️ Notes:

~All values are based on the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the BLS.

~The dataset may contain seasonally adjusted and non-adjusted values.

~Numbers represent civilian noninstitutional population, 25 years and older.

The Current Employment Statistics (CES) program produces detailed industry estimates of nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings of workers on payrolls. CES National Estimates produces data for the nation, and CES State and Metro Area produces estimates for all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and about 450 metropolitan areas and divisions.See ces-schemas.txt for a listing of the columns and a few rows of the zipped tables.See ce.series for a summary of each the tablesSee Handbook of Methods (https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/ces/presentation.htm) for background of the data collection and presentation.See the pdf files for screenshots of the home pages.

This layer shows figures of quit rates and quit levels by the US, BLS regions, and states. Data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and was released October and November of 2021. The layer default symbology highlights to September 2021 quit rate in comparison to the national figure of 3.0%.According to the October 2021 News Release by BLS:"The number of quits increased in August to 4.3 million (+242,000). The quits rate increased to a series high of 2.9 percent. Quits increased in accommodation and food services (+157,000); wholesale trade (+26,000); and state and local government education (+25,000). Quits decreased in real estate and rental and leasing (-23,000). The number of quits increased in the South and Midwest regions."In the following November News Release:"In September, quits rates increased in 15 states and decreased in 10 states. The largest increases in quits rates occurred in Hawaii (+3.8 percentage points), Montana (+1.5 points), as well as Nevada and New Hampshire (+1.1 points each). The largest decreases in quits rates occurred in Kentucky (-1.1 percentage points), Iowa (-1.0 point), and South Dakota (-0.7 point). Over the month, the national quits rate increased (+0.1 percentage point)."Quit rates: The quits rate is the number of quits during the entire month as a percent of total employment.Quit levels: Quits are the number of quits during the entire month.State and US figures: Table 4. Quits levels and rates by industry and region, seasonally adjustedRegion figures: Table 4. Quits levels and rates by industry and region, seasonally adjustedThis data was obtained in October and November 2021, and the months of data from BLS are as follows:August 2020September 2020April 2021 (only offered for Regions)May 2021June 2021July 2021August 2021September 2021 (preliminary values)For the full data release, click here.The states (including the District of Columbia) that comprise the regions are: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and VermontSouth: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West VirginiaMidwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and WisconsinWest: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) program consists of two surveys: the quarterly Interview survey and the annual Diary survey. Combined, these two surveys provide information on the buying habits of American consumers, including data on their expenditures, income, and consumer unit (families and single consumers) characteristics. The survey data are collected for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by the U.S. Census Bureau. The CE collects all on all spending components including food, housing, apparel and services, transportation, entertainment, and out-of-pocket health care costs. The CE tables are an easy-to-use tool for obtaining arts-related spending estimates. They feature several arts-related spending categories, including the following items: Spending on Admissions Plays, theater, opera, and concerts Movies, parks, and museums Spending on Reading Newspapers and magazines Books Digital book readers Spending on Other Arts-Related Items Musical instruments Photographic equipment Audio-visual equipment Toys, games, arts and crafts The CE is important because it is the only Federal survey to provide information on the complete range of consumers' expenditures and incomes, as well as the characteristics of those consumers. It is used by economic policymakers examining the impact of policy changes on economic groups, by the Census Bureau as the source of thresholds for the Supplemental Poverty Measure, by businesses and academic researchers studying consumers' spending habits and trends, by other Federal agencies, and, perhaps most importantly, to regularly revise the Consumer Price Index market basket of goods and services and their relative importance. The most recent data tables are for 2022 and include: 1) Detailed tables with the most granular level of expenditure data available, along with variances and percent reporting for each expenditure item, for all consumer units (listed as "Other" in the Download menu); and 2) Tables with calendar year aggregate shares by demographic characteristics that provide annual aggregate expenditures and shares across demographic groups (listed as "Excel" in the Download menu). Also, see Featured CE Tables and Economic News Releases sections on the CE home page for current data tables and news release. The 1980 through 2022 CE public-use microdata, including Interview Survey data, Diary Survey data, and paradata (information about the data collection process), are available on the CE website.

The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) Program is a Federal-State cooperative program between the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the California EDD’s Labor Market Information Division (LMID). The QCEW program produces a comprehensive tabulation of employment and wage information for workers covered by California Unemployment Insurance (UI) laws and Federal workers covered by the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program. The QCEW program serves as a near census of monthly employment and quarterly wage information by 6-digit industry codes from the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) at the national, state, and county levels. At the national level, the QCEW program publishes employment and wage data for nearly every NAICS industry. At the state and local area level, the QCEW program publishes employment and wage data down to the 6-digit NAICS industry level, if disclosure restrictions are met. In accordance with the BLS policy, data provided to the Bureau in confidence are used only for specified statistical purposes and are not published. The BLS withholds publication of Unemployment Insurance law-covered employment and wage data for any industry level when necessary to protect the identity of cooperating employers. Data from the QCEW program serve as an important input to many BLS programs. The Current Employment Statistics and the Occupational Employment Statistics programs use the QCEW data as the benchmark source for employment. The UI administrative records collected under the QCEW program serve as a sampling frame for the BLS establishment surveys. In addition, the data serve as an input to other federal and state programs. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the Department of Commerce uses the QCEW data as the base for developing the wage and salary component of personal income. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and California's EDD use the QCEW data to administer the Unemployment Insurance program. The QCEW data accurately reflect the extent of coverage of California’s UI laws and are used to measure UI revenues; national, state and local area employment; and total and UI taxable wage trends. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes new QCEW data in its County Employment and Wages news release on a quarterly basis. The BLS also publishes a subset of its quarterly data through the Create Customized Tables system, and full quarterly industry detail data at all geographic levels. Disclaimer: For information regarding future updates or preliminary/final data releases, please refer to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Release Calendar: https://www.bls.gov/cew/release-calendar.htm

The Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CE) program provides data on expenditures, income, and demographic characteristics of consumers in the United States. The CE program provides these data in tables, LABSTAT database, news releases, reports, and public use microdata files. CE data are collected by the Census Bureau for BLS in two surveys, the Interview Survey for major and/or recurring items and the Diary Survey for more minor or frequently purchased items. CE data are primarily used to revise the relative importance of goods and services in the market basket of the Consumer Price Index. The CE is the only Federal household survey to provide information on the complete range of consumers' expenditures and incomes. For more information and data, visit: https://www.bls.gov/cex/

The Current Employment Statistics (CES) program produces detailed industry estimates of employment, hours, and earnings of workers on nonfarm payrolls. CES State and Metro Area produces data for all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and about 430 metropolitan areas and divisions. CES National Estimates produces estimates for the nation.Each month, CES surveys approximately 121,000 businesses and government agencies, representing 631,000 individual worksites.See sme-schemas.txt for a listing of the columns and a few rows of each of the tables.See Handbook of Methods (https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/sae/) for background of the data collection and presentation methodsSee the pdf files for screenshots of the home pages.

Graph and download economic data for Producer Price Index by Commodity: Furniture and Household Durables: Nonwood Commercial Storage Units, Files, and Tables (WPU122202) from Jun 1980 to Sep 2025 about furniture, durable goods, commercial, households, goods, commodities, PPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) program consists of two surveys: the quarterly Interview survey and the annual Diary survey. Combined, these two surveys provide information on the buying habits of American consumers, including data on their expenditures, income, and consumer unit (families and single consumers) characteristics. The survey data are collected for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by the U.S. Census Bureau. The CE collects all on all spending components including food, housing, apparel and services, transportation, entertainment, and out-of-pocket health care costs. The CE features several arts-related spending categories, including the following items: Spending on Admissions Plays, theater, opera, and concerts Movies, parks, and museums Spending on Reading Newspapers and magazines Books Digital book readers Spending on Other Arts-Related Items Musical instruments Photographic equipment Audio-visual equipment Toys, games, arts and crafts The CE is important because it is the only Federal survey to provide information on the complete range of consumers' expenditures and incomes, as well as the characteristics of those consumers. It is used by economic policymakers examining the impact of policy changes on economic groups, by the Census Bureau as the source of thresholds for the Supplemental Poverty Measure, by businesses and academic researchers studying consumers' spending habits and trends, by other Federal agencies, and, perhaps most importantly, to regularly revise the Consumer Price Index market basket of goods and services and their relative importance. The most recent data tables are for 2019, and were made available on September 9, 2020. The unpublished integrated CE data tables produced by the BLS are available to download through NADAC (click on "Excel" in the Dataset(s) section). Also, see Featured CE Tables and Economic News Releases sections on the CE home page for current data tables and news release. The 1980 through 2019 CE public-use microdata, including Interview Survey data, Diary Survey data, and paradata (information about the data collection process), are available on the CE website.

This layer contains the latest 14 months of unemployment statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The data is offered at the nationwide, state, and county geography levels. Puerto Rico is included. These are not seasonally adjusted values.The layer is updated monthly with the newest unemployment statistics available from BLS. There are attributes in the layer that specify which month is associated to each statistic.Most current month: October 2024 (preliminary values at the county level)The attributes included for each month are:Unemployment rate (%)Count of unemployed populationCount of employed population in the labor forceCount of people in the labor forceData obtained from theU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.Data downloaded: December 20, 2024Local Area Unemployment Statistics table download:https://www.bls.gov/lau/#tablesLocal Area Unemployment FTP downloads:State and CountyNationData Notes:This layer is updated automatically when the BLS releases their most current monthly statistics. The layer always contains the most recent estimates. It is updated within days of the BLS's county release schedule. BLS releases their county statistics roughly 2 months after-the-fact.The data is joined to 2021TIGER boundariesfrom theU.S. Census Bureau.Monthly values are subject to revision over time.For national values, employed plus unemployed may not sum to total labor force due to rounding.As of the January 2022 estimates released on March 18th, 2022, BLS is reporting new data for the two new census areas in Alaska - Copper River and Chugach - and historical data for the previous census area - Valdez Cordova.To better understand the different labor force statistics included in this map, see the diagram belowfrom BLS:

The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) program consists of two surveys: the quarterly Interview survey and the annual Diary survey. Combined, these two surveys provide information on the buying habits of American consumers, including data on their expenditures, income, and consumer unit (families and single consumers) characteristics. The survey data are collected for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by the U.S. Census Bureau. The CE collects all on all spending components including food, housing, apparel and services, transportation, entertainment, and out-of-pocket health care costs. The CE features several arts-related spending categories, including the following items: Spending on Admissions Plays, theater, opera, and concerts Movies, parks, and museums Spending on Reading Newspapers and magazines Books Digital book readers Spending on Other Arts-Related Items Musical instruments Photographic equipment Audio-visual equipment Toys, games, arts and crafts The CE is important because it is the only Federal survey to provide information on the complete range of consumers' expenditures and incomes, as well as the characteristics of those consumers. It is used by economic policymakers examining the impact of policy changes on economic groups, by the Census Bureau as the source of thresholds for the Supplemental Poverty Measure, by businesses and academic researchers studying consumers' spending habits and trends, by other Federal agencies, and, perhaps most importantly, to regularly revise the Consumer Price Index market basket of goods and services and their relative importance. The most recent data tables are for 2018, and were made available on September 10, 2019. The unpublished integrated CE data tables produced by the BLS are available to download through NADAC (click on "Excel" in the Dataset(s) section). Also, see Featured CE Tables and Economic News Releases sections on the CE home page for current data tables and news release. The 2018 public-use microdata is the most recent and was released on September 10, 2019.

This table includes the Labor force data by county files for 2008, 2009, and 2010 annual averages. It comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics webpage.

This layer contains the latest 14 months of unemployment statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The data is offered at the nationwide, state, and county geography levels. Puerto Rico is included. These are not seasonally adjusted values. The layer is updated monthly with the newest unemployment statistics available from BLS. There are attributes in the layer that specify which month is associated to each statistic. Most current month: August 2025 (preliminary values at the state and county level) The attributes included for each month are:Unemployment rate (%)Count of unemployed populationCount of employed population in the labor forceCount of people in the labor force Data obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Data downloaded: October 1, 2025Local Area Unemployment Statistics table download: https://www.bls.gov/lau/#tablesLocal Area Unemployment FTP downloads:State and CountyNation Data Notes:This layer is updated automatically when the BLS releases their most current monthly statistics. The layer always contains the most recent estimates. It is updated within days of the BLS"s county release schedule. BLS releases their county statistics roughly 2 months after-the-fact. The data is joined to 2023 TIGER boundaries from the U.S. Census Bureau.Monthly values are subject to revision over time.For national values, employed plus unemployed may not sum to total labor force due to rounding.As of the January 2022 estimates released on March 18th, 2022, BLS is reporting new data for the two new census areas in Alaska - Copper River and Chugach - and historical data for the previous census area - Valdez Cordova.As of the March 17th, 2025 release, BLS now reports data for 9 planning regions in Connecticut rather than the 8 previous counties. To better understand the different labor force statistics included in this map, see the diagram below from BLS:

Abstract

This dataset includes economic statistics on inflation, prices, unemployment, and pay & benefits provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Documentation

Update frequency: Monthly Dataset source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Terms of use: This dataset is publicly available for anyone to use under the following terms provided by the Dataset Source - http://www.data.gov/privacy-policy#data_policy - and is provided "AS IS" without any warranty, express or implied, from Google. Google disclaims all liability for any damages, direct or indirect, resulting from the use of the dataset. See the GCP Marketplace listing for more details and sample queries: https://console.cloud.google.com/marketplace/details/bls-public-data/bureau-of-labor-statistics

The Employment Projections (EP) program develops information about the labor market for the Nation as a whole for 10 years in the future. For more information visit: https://www.bls.gov/emp/

This map shows three things: which counties are experiencing high unemployment (indicated by the sad faces)whether unemployment is worsening or getting better since a year ago (indicated by color)the number of unemployed people in the most recent month (indicated by size)The map always represents the most current figures offered by BLS, and updates automatically twice a month. To see the most current month offered by BLS, find the CurrentMonth attribute in the data table, or visit the metadata for the Living Atlas layer used in this map.Click on any county to see full details on the percent unemployed and count of unemployed people over the past 14 months. The pop-up's Arcade expressions compare the most recent month's data to that from 12 months prior. This helps with any seasonal variation that might occur within a year.Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS):https://www.bls.gov/Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS):https://www.bls.gov/lau/

Graph and download economic data for Expenditures: Entertainment by Occupation: Total Wage and Salary Earners (CXUENTRTAINLB1203M) from 1984 to 2023 about entertainment, occupation, salaries, expenditures, wages, and USA.