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:

Graph and download economic data for All Employees, Manufacturing (MANEMP) from Jan 1939 to Sep 2025 about headline figure, establishment survey, manufacturing, employment, and USA.

The Employment Cost Index (ECI) measures the change in the hourly labor cost to employers over time. The ECI uses a fixed “basket” of labor to produce a pure cost change, free from the effects of workers moving between occupations and industries and includes both the cost of wages and salaries and the cost of benefits.In the private sector, business owners and human resources professionals can use the ECI to make decisions about pay adjustments to help them stay competitive. In the public sector, the Federal Reserve and others use the ECI to gauge the health of the labor market, adjust contracts, and research the labor market.There are two data schemas:NAICS-SOC basis (2001-Present) - ciSIC-OCS basis (1979-2005) - ec

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Survey is a federal-state cooperative program between the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). The BLS provides the procedures and technical support, draws the sample, and produces the survey materials, while the SWAs collect the data. SWAs from all fifty states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands participate in the survey. Occupational employment and wage rate estimates at the national level are produced by BLS using data from the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Employers who respond to states' requests to participate in the OEWS survey make these estimates possible. The OEWS survey collects data from a sample of establishments and calculates employment and wage estimates by occupation, industry, and geographic area. The semiannual survey covers all non-farm industries. Data are collected by the Employment Development Department in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor. The OEWS Program estimates employment and wages for approximately 830 occupations. It also produces employment and wage estimates for statewide, Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), and Balance of State areas. Estimates are a snapshot in time and should not be used as a time series. The OEWS estimates are published annually. SOURCE: https://www.bls.gov/oes/oes_emp.htm

Graph and download economic data for Multiple Jobholders as a Percent of Employed (LNS12026620) from Jan 1994 to Sep 2025 about multiple jobholders, 16 years +, percent, household survey, employment, and USA.

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program conducts a semiannual survey designed to produce estimates of employment and wages for specific occupations. The OES program collects data on wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in order to produce employment and wage estimates for about 800 occupations. Data from self-employed persons are not collected and are not included in the estimates. The OES program produces these occupational estimates for the nation as a whole, by state, by metropolitan or nonmetropolitan area, and by industry or ownership. The Bureau of Labor Statistics produces occupational employment and wage estimates for approximately 415 industry classifications at the national level. The industry classifications correspond to the sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industrial groups. The OES program surveys approximately 200,000 establishments per panel (every six months), taking three years to fully collect the sample of 1.2 million establishments. To reduce respondent burden, the collection is on a three-year survey cycle that ensures that establishments are surveyed at most once every three years. The estimates for occupations in nonfarm establishments are based on OES data collected for the reference months of May and November. The OES survey is a federal-state cooperative program between the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS provides the procedures and technical support, draws the sample, and produces the survey materials, while the SWAs collect the data. SWAs from all fifty states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands participate in the survey. Occupational employment and wage rate estimates at the national level are produced by BLS using data from the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Employers who respond to states' requests to participate in the OES survey make these estimates possible. The OES features several arts-related occupations, particularly in the Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations group (Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code 27-0000). Several featured occupation groups include the following: Art and Design Workers (SOC 27-1000) Art Directors Fine Artists, including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators Multimedia Artists and Animators Fashion Designers Graphic Designers Set and Exhibit Designers Entertainers and Performers, Sports and Related Workers (SOC 27-2000) Actors Producers and Directors Athletes Coaches and Scouts Dancers Choreographers Music Directors and Composers Musicians and Singers Media and Communication Workers (SOC 27-3000) Radio and Television Announcers Reports and Correspondents Public Relations Specialists Writers and Authors Data for years 1997 through the latest release and can be found on the OES Data page. Also, see OES News Releases sections for current estimates and news releases. Users can analyze the data for the nation as a whole, by state, by metropolitan or nonmetropolitan area, and by industry or ownership. As well, OES Charts are available. Users may also explore data using OES Maps. If preferred, data can also be accessed via the Multi-Screen Data Search or Text Files using the OES Databases page.

This dataset uses seasonally adjusted data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics to present information on Maryland's labor force participation rate, employment rate, and unemployment rate.

Graph and download economic data for Civilian Labor Force Level (CLF16OV) from Jan 1948 to Sep 2025 about civilian, 16 years +, labor force, labor, household survey, and USA.

Key information about United States Employed Persons

• United States Employed Persons was reported at 163,307,000.000 Person in Feb 2025
• It recorded a decrease from the previous number of 163,895,000.000 Person for Jan 2025
• US Employed Persons data is updated monthly, averaging 109,912,500.000 Person from Jan 1948 to Feb 2025, with 926 observations
• The data reached an all-time high of 163,895,000.000 Person in Jan 2025 and a record low of 57,172,000.000 Person in Jun 1949
• US Employed Persons data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by CEIC Data
• The data is categorized under World Trend Plus’s Global Economic Monitor – Table: Employed Persons: Monthly: Seasonally Adjusted

Context

This is a dataset that I built by scraping the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. I was looking for county-level unemployment data and realized that there was a data source for this, but the data set itself hadn't existed yet, so I decided to write a scraper and build it out myself.

Content

This data represents the Local Area Unemployment Statistics from 1990-2016, broken down by state and month. The data itself is pulled from this mapping site:

https://data.bls.gov/map/MapToolServlet?survey=la&map=county&seasonal=u

Further, the ever-evolving and ever-improving codebase that pulled this data is available here:

https://github.com/jayrav13/bls_local_area_unemployment

Acknowledgements

Of course, a huge shoutout to bls.gov and their open and transparent data. I've certainly been inspired to dive into US-related data recently and having this data open further enables my curiosities.

Inspiration

I was excited about building this data set out because I was pretty sure something similar didn't exist - curious to see what folks can do with it once they run with it! A curious question I had was surrounding Unemployment vs 2016 Presidential Election outcome down to the county level. A comparison can probably lead to interesting questions and discoveries such as trends in local elections that led to their most recent election outcome, etc.

Next Steps

Version 1 of this is as a massive JSON blob, normalized by year / month / state. I intend to transform this into a CSV in the future as well.

This dataset contains annual average CES data for California statewide and areas from 1990 to 2024. The Current Employment Statistics (CES) program is a Federal-State cooperative effort in which monthly surveys are conducted to provide estimates of employment, hours, and earnings based on payroll records of business establishments. The CES survey is based on approximately 119,000 businesses and government agencies representing approximately 629,000 individual worksites throughout the United States. CES data reflect the number of nonfarm, payroll jobs. It includes the total number of persons on establishment payrolls, employed full- or part-time, who received pay (whether they worked or not) for any part of the pay period that includes the 12th day of the month. Temporary and intermittent employees are included, as are any employees who are on paid sick leave or on paid holiday. Persons on the payroll of more than one establishment are counted in each establishment. CES data excludes proprietors, self-employed, unpaid family or volunteer workers, farm workers, and household workers. Government employment covers only civilian employees; it excludes uniformed members of the armed services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor is responsible for the concepts, definitions, technical procedures, validation, and publication of the estimates that State workforce agencies prepare under agreement with BLS.

This dataset represents the CHANGE in the number of jobs per industry category and sub-category from the previous month, not the raw counts of actual jobs. The data behind these monthly change values is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. CES data represents businesses and government agencies, providing detailed industry data on employment on nonfarm payrolls.

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

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

This dataset contains the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS), annual averages from 1990 to 2024.

The Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program is a Federal-State cooperative effort in which monthly estimates of total employment and unemployment are prepared for approximately 7,600 areas, including counties, cities and metropolitan statistical areas. These estimates are key indicators of local economic conditions.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor is responsible for the concepts, definitions, technical procedures, validation, and publication of the estimates that State workforce agencies prepare under agreement with BLS.

Estimates for counties are produced through a building-block approach known as the "Handbook method." This procedure also uses data from several sources, including the CPS, the CES program, state UI systems, and the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS), to create estimates that are adjusted to the statewide measures of employment and unemployment. Estimates for cities are prepared using disaggregation techniques based on inputs from the ACS, annual population estimates, and current UI data.

View monthly updates and historical trends for US Labor Force Participation Rate. from United States. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Track economic d…

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Units: Percent, Seasonally Adjusted

Frequency: Monthly

The unemployment rate represents the number of unemployed as a percentage of the labor force. Labor force data are restricted to people 16 years of age and older, who currently reside in 1 of the 50 states or the District of Columbia, who do not reside in institutions (e.g., penal and mental facilities, homes for the aged), and who are not on active duty in the Armed Forces.

This rate is also defined as the U-3 measure of labor underutilization.

The series comes from the 'Current Population Survey (Household Survey)'

Suggested Citation:

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Unemployment Rate [UNRATE], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE, August 13, 2023.

Historical Employment Statistics 1990 - current. The Current Employment Statistics (CES) more information program provides the most current estimates of nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings data by industry (place of work) for the nation as a whole, all states, and most major metropolitan areas. The CES survey is a federal-state cooperative endeavor in which states develop state and sub-state data using concepts, definitions, and technical procedures prescribed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Estimates produced by the CES program include both full- and part-time jobs. Excluded are self-employment, as well as agricultural and domestic positions. In Connecticut, more than 4,000 employers are surveyed each month to determine the number of the jobs in the State. For more information please visit us at http://www1.ctdol.state.ct.us/lmi/ces/default.asp.

The Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program is a federal-state cooperative effort which produces monthly estimates of produces monthly and annual employment, unemployment, and labor force data for approximately 7,000 areas including Census regions and divisions, States, counties, metropolitan areas, and many cities.

For more information and data visit: https://www.bls.gov/lau/