Define Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

What is the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and what does it do?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a government organisation that gathers and disseminates statistics on the economy and labour market in the United States. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Producer Price Index (PPI), both considered major gauges of inflation, are included in its publications.

TAKEAWAYS IMPORTANT

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is an American government organisation in charge of gathering and distributing economic and employment data.

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is in charge of two important inflation indicators: the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Producer Price Index (PPI) (PPI).

• The BLS also publishes national and regional employment, labour force participation, productivity, and pay data.

Getting to Know the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

The BLS, which is part of the US Department of Labor (DOL), is responsible for researching, compiling, and publishing statistical data on the labour market, pricing, and productivity. This federal agency goes to considerable measures to assure the accuracy, impartiality, and accessibility of its reports, and the figures it generates are among the most important economic indicators in the United States.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data is often mentioned in the media and relied on by corporations, researchers, and politicians to make decisions. Economists and market players keep a close eye on the bureau's announcements in order to make better and more accurate forecasts about how the economy and markets will perform in the future.

The BLS has been depended on for empirical facts to guide economic policy, notably to justify raising the minimum wage, throughout its existence.

The Most Significant Data Releases

The BLS publishes a number of key statistics reports, including:

• The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a weighted average of the prices of a set of items that is used as a standard indicator of inflation and living costs.

• The Producer Price Index (PPI) is a measure of the average price of products and services received by American producers.

• LAUS (Local Area Unemployment Statistics): A collection of localised labour efficiency and unemployment data.

• The National Compensation Survey (NCS) generates broad aggregates of employees' wages from a range of industries.

• CPS (Current Population Survey): This monthly survey, co-sponsored by the Census Bureau, aims to ascertain the demographic characteristics and employment status of all adults of working age in a household. 1 The CPS, sometimes known as the "home survey," is the major source for labour force data in the United States. It contains the national unemployment rate.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has a long and illustrious history (BLS)

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was founded in 1884 as a department of the Department of the Interior with the mission of researching and compiling data on economics and labour. It then operated as a separate department for over 15 years before being absorbed into the short-lived Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903.

That shift lasted just a decade. When the Department of Commerce and Labor was renamed the Department of Commerce (DOC) in 1913, the BLS, along with other labor-related bureaus and agencies, was transferred to the newly-created Department of Labor (DOL), a US cabinet-level agency charged with enforcing federal labour standards and promoting worker welfare.