Bureau of Labor Statistics

What Bureau of Labor Statistics does

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the principal U.S. federal statistical agency for labor economics, operating as an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor since 1884 and headquartered at the Suitland Federal Center in Washington, DC, with six regional offices across the country. It produces the official U.S. statistics for the labor market and prices, including the Consumer Price Index (CPI), Producer Price Indexes (PPI), Current Employment Statistics (CES), Current Population Survey (CPS), Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), Employment Cost Index (ECI), Occupational Employment Statistics, productivity and costs measures, the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, and the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Methodology rests on large-scale recurring surveys — a CPS sample of approximately 60,000 households monthly, an establishment survey covering roughly one-third of U.S. employment, and a PPI program covering over 10,000 individual product indexes — with annual benchmarking to Unemployment Insurance tax records and the BLS Birth-Death model accounting for new business formation and closure.

BLS operates with statutory independence within the decentralized U.S. federal statistical system, coordinated through OMB Statistical Policy Directives and partnerships with the Census Bureau, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and all 50 state and territorial labor market information agencies. Survey respondent data is protected by confidentiality pledges under federal law. Outputs are disseminated at no charge through bls.gov, a Public Data API, scheduled news releases (Employment Situation, CPI, PPI, Productivity, JOLTS), email subscriptions via GovDelivery, RSS feeds, publications (Monthly Labor Review, The Economics Daily, Beyond the Numbers, Spotlight on Statistics, Career Outlook), and an active social presence across multiple platforms. An annual Virtual Data Users Conference engages the data-user community.

BLS does not generate commercial revenue; it is funded entirely through congressional appropriations and provides all data products free of charge as a public good. Its outputs directly underpin Federal Reserve monetary policy decisions, Social Security COLA calculations for 48.4 million beneficiaries, food stamp adjustments for ~19.8 million recipients, military and federal Civil Service retirement adjustments (~4.2 million), collective bargaining for 2M+ workers, school lunch cost indexing for 26.5 million children, and the Occupational Outlook Handbook covering 300+ occupations with employment projections through 2034. The agency's customer base spans the Federal Reserve, Congress, the Department of Labor, Social Security Administration, state and local agencies, businesses, economists and researchers, financial investors, media, job seekers, and the general public.

Name

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Legal name

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Website

https://bls.gov

Company type

Public

Founded year

1884

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the principal U.S. federal statistical agency producing official labor market, price, employment, wage, productivity, and occupational data — including CPI, PPI, CES, CPS, and JOLTS — serving the Federal Reserve, Congress, businesses, researchers, and the public free of charge.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Government Appropriations: BLS is a federal government agency funded by congressional appropriations. It does not generate commercial revenue. Data and publications are provided free of charge to the public as a public good. The agency operates under the U.S. Department of Labor and conducts its work with independence to ensure data is objective and free of partisan influence.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

BLS is the principal federal statistical agency producing objective, independent labor economics and price data for the United States. Its core offerings include the Consumer Price Index (CPI), Producer Price Index (PPI), Current Employment Statistics (CES), Current Population Survey (CPS), Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), Employment Cost Index (ECI), productivity measures, occupational and wage statistics, and the Occupational Outlook Handbook. All data and publications are provided free of charge to the public, businesses, researchers, and government organizations as a public good.

Product overview

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a federal statistical agency that serves as the principal fact-finding agency in the broad field of labor economics. It produces a comprehensive portfolio of statistical products including the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Indexes (PPI) for measuring inflation; Current Employment Statistics (CES), Current Population Survey (CPS), and Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for employment data; the Employment Cost Index (ECI) and Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) for compensation and wage data; American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and Consumer Expenditure Surveys for spending and time use data; Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries for workplace safety; and Productivity and Costs measures for economic efficiency. Data access is provided through the BLS Public Data API, web-based data retrieval tools, and publications including the Monthly Labor Review and Occupational Outlook Handbook.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH): A nationally recognized source of career information describing what workers do on the job, working conditions, training and education needed, earnings, and expected job prospects for occupations.
• Monthly Labor Review
• The Economics Daily
• Career Outlook

Products and services

• Consumer Price Index (CPI)
• Producer Price Indexes (PPI)
• Current Employment Statistics (CES)
• Current Population Survey (CPS)
• Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)
• Employment Cost Index (ECI)
• Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES)
• National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS)
• Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH)
• Import and Export Price Indexes
• American Time Use Survey (ATUS)
• Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI)
• Business Employment Dynamics (BED)
• Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CEX)
• Productivity and Costs
• Employment Projections
• BLS Public Data API
• Monthly Labor Review

Quantifiable outcome

• CPI affects income for approximately 80 million persons through statutory action: 48.4 million Social Security beneficiaries, about 19.8 million food stamp recipients, and about 4.2 million military and federal Civil Service retirees and survivors
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• State and Territorial GovernmentscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBLS maintains formal partnerships with all 50 state and territorial governments through state labor market information agencies. State agencies coordinate with BLS for data collection, particularly for Unemployment Insurance records that form the basis of the CES benchmark. This partnership is fundamental to BLS's ability to produce national and state-level employment statistics.
• U.S. Census BureaucoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Census Bureau conducts the Current Population Survey (CPS) on behalf of BLS. This monthly survey of approximately 60,000 households is the primary source of household-level labor force data, including the official unemployment rate. The partnership leverages Census Bureau's survey infrastructure and expertise.
• Federal Statistical System AgenciescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBLS coordinates with other federal statistical agencies including the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), Census Bureau, National Agricultural Statistics Service, and others within the decentralized U.S. statistical system. BLS also provides statistical guidance to the Department of Labor and its agencies.
• Office of Management and Budget (Statistical Policy Directives)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBLS operates under OMB Statistical Policy Directives that govern federal statistical activities, ensuring consistency and quality across the statistical system. BLS follows OMB guidelines for data quality, confidentiality, and methodological standards.
• BLS Labor Market Information Oversight Council and Workforce Information Advisory CouncilminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBLS works with prominent technical and scientific professionals who serve on advisory committees, advising BLS on ways to improve and innovate. These stakeholder committees provide guidance on data quality, methodology, and emerging needs.
• Private Data Collection VendorsminorOthers

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA): U.S. Department of Commerce agency producing GDP, personal income, and industry economic accounts. Sister federal statistical agency under OMB Statistical Policy Directives, operating the same distributed-survey-and-publication model and serving overlapping Federal Reserve, congressional, and public-policymaker customers.
• U.S. Census Bureau: Principal federal statistical agency for population, demographics, and economic censuses. Operates the Current Population Survey on BLS's behalf and shares the same OMB statistical policy framework, public dissemination channels, and confidentiality protections.
• Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED): Distributes BLS data series (CPI, employment, PPI) alongside Federal Reserve data through the FRED public data platform and API. Same target audience of economists, researchers, and financial-market participants; same free-data, programmatic-access model.
• Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS): Federal statistical agency within DOJ producing criminal justice, victimization, and law enforcement data. Shares the same U.S. Statistical System structure, OMB oversight, survey methodology, and public dissemination pattern as BLS.

Emerging players

• National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER): Private nonprofit producing influential economic research, business cycle dating, and working papers. Heavy user and validator of BLS data; produces competing analytical outputs (e.g., recession indicators) that sit alongside BLS releases for the same economist and policymaker audience.
• International Labour Organization (ILO): UN agency producing global labor market statistics, employment-to-population ratios, and ILOSTAT data portal. Comparable mission (global labor measurement) and output dissemination model to BLS, but at international rather than U.S. scope.
• Indeed Hiring Lab: Research arm of Indeed producing real-time job postings, wage, and hiring-trend analytics. Serves overlapping economist, policymaker, and media audiences and competes with BLS JOLTS on labor-market turnover and demand visibility.

Regional players

• Eurostat: Statistical office of the European Union producing harmonized economic and labor market indicators (HICP, EU employment rates). Near-perfect functional analog to BLS for Europe, serving EU institutions, member-state governments, and the European public.
• Office for National Statistics (UK): UK's principal statistical agency producing CPI, RPI, employment, and productivity statistics. Direct functional analog to BLS for the United Kingdom, including producer-price and labor-market release patterns cited by the Bank of England.

Broad incumbents

• ADP Research Institute: Private-sector provider of payroll-based employment and wage data covering millions of U.S. workers via ADP's payroll platform. Competes with BLS CES for high-frequency labor-market visibility and serves overlapping financial-services, investor, and business-decision audiences.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BLS_gov
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCYijn3WBpHtx4AvSya7NER9Q
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bureau-of-labor-statistics
• Instagraminstagram.com/usbls_gov
• Facebookfacebook.com/111618992237282

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles19 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Bureau of Labor Statistics