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Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Bureau of Labor Statistics

The Postal Square Building in Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Bureau of Labor Statistics until 2024
Agency overview
FormedJune 27, 1884; 141 years ago (1884-06-27)
JurisdictionFederal government of the United States
HeadquartersSuitland Federal Center
Suitland, Maryland, U.S.
Employees2,100[1]
Annual budget$655 million (2021)[2]
Agency executives
Websitebls.gov

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 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. The BLS also serves as a statistical resource to the United States Department of Labor, and conducts research measuring the income levels families need to maintain a satisfactory quality of life.[5]

BLS data must satisfy a number of criteria, including relevance to current social and economic issues, timeliness in reflecting today's rapidly changing economic conditions, accuracy and consistently high statistical quality, impartiality in both subject matter and presentation, and accessibility to all. To avoid the appearance of partiality, the dates of major data releases are scheduled more than a year in advance, in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget.[6]

History

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See also: United States labor law
Front page of the Monthly Labor Review, October 1969

The Bureau of Labor was established within the Department of the Interior on June 27, 1884, to collect information about employment and labor. Its creation under the Bureau of Labor Act (23 Stat. 60) stemmed from the findings of U.S. Senator Henry W. Blair's "Labor and Capital Hearings", which examined labor issues and working conditions in the U.S.[7] Statistician Carroll D. Wright became the first U.S. Commissioner of Labor in 1885, a position he held until 1905. The Bureau's placement within the federal government structure changed three times in the first 29 years following its formation. It was made an independent (sub-Cabinet) department by the Department of Labor Act (25 Stat. 182) on June 13, 1888. The Bureau was then incorporated into the Department of Commerce and Labor by the Department of Commerce Act (32 Stat. 827) on February 14, 1903. Finally, it was transferred under the Department of Labor in 1913, where it resides today.[8][9] Starting in 1992, BLS was headquartered in the Postal Square Building near Washington Union Station. During 2024, BLS headquarters were moved to the Suitland Federal Center in Suitland, Maryland, into the same facility that houses the Bureau of the Census headquarters.

Since 1915, the BLS has published the Monthly Labor Review, a journal focused on the data and methodologies of labor statistics.

The BLS is headed by a commissioner who serves a four-year term from the date he or she takes office. The most recent Commissioner of Labor Statistics is Erika McEntarfer, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate for the office on January 11, 2024.[10]

Erica Groshen was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 2, 2013, and sworn in as the 14th Commissioner of Labor Statistics on January 29, 2013, for a term that ended on January 27, 2017.[11][12] William Wiatrowski, Deputy Commissioner of the BLS, served as Acting Commissioner until the next commissioner, William Beach was sworn in. Beach served until January 2024, at which time he was succeeded by Erika McEntarfer.

Firing of Commissioner McEntarfer

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See also: False or misleading statements by Donald Trump § Firing of Erika McEntarfer, and Erika McEntarfer § Firing by Donald Trump

On August 1, 2025, President Donald Trump announced he would fire Commissioner McEntarfer, hours after a downward revision in job creation was published in the Bureau's July jobs report.[13][14] According to the BBC, "[t]he decision shocked Wall Street and raised alarm about White House interference in economic data."[15] Commentators pointed out that due to BLS security precautions, the commissioner did not have access to the systems that collect the data for this report, and could not change the results without a large number of people knowing and at least some of them complaining publicly.[16]

US Jobs Report

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Following Trump's firing of Commissioner McEntarfer, the media explained how The Employment Situation reports are made, stating that revisions are not unusual, nor are large changes in them abnormal.

The BLS collects job data in two separate surveys. The first one is done by survey takers who ask a sample of people for their employment status and their demographic information. The second one, the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey, is collected from thousands of businesses and government agencies via telephone, online surveys, automated data transfer for large corporations, a form sent to 650,000 workplaces, etc. The participation in the CES survey is voluntary, but California, New Mexico, Oregon, Ohio, South Carolina (and Puerto Rico) require businesses to answer the survey by law. CES survey respondents submit monthly employment, hours, and earnings data for all paid workers to the BLS from their payroll records. The data is collected for the pay period that includes the 12th of the month.

Then, BLS economists edit the data to detect processing and reporting errors. If there are mistakes, the BLS contacts the business for clarification. Afterward, BLS staff prepare the data for a monthly report by estimating employment, hours worked, and earnings. To extrapolate the data for the entire country, BLS economists add in some educated guesswork, based on seasonal hiring trends. The methods they use for the calculations are published on the BLS website. The BLS protects the raw data and its estimates by processing them through statistical tests, so individuals can’t access any particular employer’s data.

Every month, usually on the first Friday, the BLS produces its Employment Situation Summary, known as the monthly "US jobs report." In addition to that month’s information, the report revises up or down the previous two months’ jobs totals.

Revisions
The BLS considers its initial job numbers as preliminary when they are first published, because some businesses don't report their payroll data by the deadline (only about 60% do), making the report harder to estimate. The BLS continues collecting the payroll data (three months after the deadline, more than a 90% of workplaces have responded), and revising it according to seasonal adjustments; if more complete data is much above or below the preliminary data, "revisions can be exacerbated by the BLS’ seasonal adjustments, which sometimes need to be recalculated." The data is revised in each of the two months following the initial report, also in a preliminary annual revision (August), and in a final annual revision (February), adding unemployment insurance data; there is a 10-year revision with census data. The BLS doesn't give lengthy analysis of the revisions; according to William Beach ,[17]: min.02:13  "it's normal for BLS not to explain those differences, because then they're doing a job outside of the job they're supposed to do, which is to take the data, and statistically make modifications to the estimates based on the data."[18][17][19]

According to the WSJ, the BLS has faced issues with data collection in recent years. Budget cuts—including a governmental hiring freeze earlier this year—and response rates have made providing real-time, accurate data more difficult. For example, the BLS surveys about 120,000 employers by phone or online to track the number of jobs in the economy and about 30% to 40% don’t reply on time—up from under 20% a decade ago.[20]

Commissioners

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Commissioners of Labor Statistics (1885 to present):[21]

No. Portrait Commissioner Took office Left office Refs.
1 Carroll D. Wright January 1885 January 1905
2 Charles P. Neill February 1905 May 1913
Acting George Hanger May 1913 August 1913
3 Royal Meeker August 11, 1913 June 1920
4 Ethelbert Stewart June 1920 June 1932
Acting Charles E. Baldwin July 1932 July 1933
5 Isador Lubin July 1933 January 1946
Acting A. Ford Hinrichs January 1946 July 1946
Acting Aryness Joy Wickens July 1946 August 1946
6 Ewan Clague August 1946 September 1965
7 Arthur Ross October 1965 July 1968
Acting Ben Burdetsky July 1968 March 1969
8 Geoffrey H. Moore March 1969 January 1973 [22]
Acting Ben Burdetsky January 1973 July 1973
9 Julius Shiskin[a] July 1973 October 1978 [23]
10 Janet L. Norwood May 1979 December 1991 [24]
Acting William G. Barron Jr. December 1991 October 1993
11 Katharine Abraham October 1993 October 2001 [25]
Acting Lois Orr October 2001 July 2002
12 Kathleen Utgoff July 2002 July 2006 [26]
Acting Philip Rones July 2006 January 2008
13 Keith Hall January 2008 January 2012 [27]
Acting John M. (Jack) Galvin January 2012 January 2013
14 Erica Groshen January 29, 2013 January 27, 2017 [28]
Acting William J. Wiatrowski January 2017 March 2019
15 William Beach March 28, 2019 March 27, 2023 [29][30]
Acting William J. Wiatrowski March 2023 January 28, 2024
16 Erika McEntarfer January 29, 2024 August 1, 2025 [31][3]
Acting William J. Wiatrowski August 1, 2025 Present

Table notes:

  1. ^ Died in office

Statistical reporting

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Statistics published by the BLS fall into four main categories:[32]

Prices

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Employment and unemployment

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Unemployment measurements by the BLS from 1950 to 2010
Job seekers ratio in the JOLTS report
  Cold job market
  Balanced job market
  Hot job market

Compensation and working conditions

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Productivity

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Statistical regions

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Data produced by the BLS is often categorized into groups of states known as Census Regions. There are four Census Regions, which are further categorized by Census Division as follows:

Northeast Region

  • New England Division: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
  • Middle Atlantic Division: New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

South Region

  • South Atlantic Division: Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.
  • East South Central Division: Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
  • West South Central Division: Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Midwest Region

  • East North Central Division: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
  • West North Central Division: Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

West Region

  • Mountain Division: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
  • Pacific Division: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington.

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ "FY 2024 Congressional Budget Justification" (PDF). Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
  2. ^ "BLS 2021 Operating Plan" (PDF). US Department of Labor. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 27, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Maher, Kit; Egan, Matt; Wallace, Alicia (August 1, 2025). "Trump fires a senior official over jobs numbers". CNN. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
  4. ^ "Bureau of Labor Statistics: Senior Staff". Bureau of Labor Statistics. Archived from the original on February 23, 2017.
  5. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on June 11, 2014. Retrieved December 22, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ Cohen, Patricia (November 3, 2016). "How Economic Data Is Kept Politics-Free". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 11, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  7. ^ GB McKinney, Henry W. Blair's Campaign to Reform America: From the Civil War to the U.S (2012) 110-111
  8. ^ "Records of the Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS]". National Archives. August 15, 2016. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  9. ^ "Overview : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics". www.bls.gov. Archived from the original on February 23, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  10. ^ "PN837 — Erika L. McEntarfer — Department of Labor". Congress.gov. January 11, 2024. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
  11. ^ Presidential Nominations, 112th Congress (011 - 2012), PN1404-112 Archived 2016-01-02 at the Wayback Machine, Library of Congress, thomas.loc.gov
  12. ^ Senate Confirms Erica Groshen to Head Bureau of Labor Statistics Archived 2017-09-04 at the Wayback Machine, by Jeffrey Sparshott at Wall Street Journal]
  13. ^ Samson, Adam; Steer, George (August 1, 2025). "Donald Trump to fire US labour statistics boss after weak jobs report". Financial Times. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
  14. ^ Boak, Joshua (August 2, 2025). "In wake of bad jobs report, Trump wants to fire head of labor statistics department". Associated Press. Retrieved August 2, 2025.
  15. ^ bbc.com 2 August 2025: Trump fires lead official on economic data as tariffs cause market drop
  16. ^ Leila Fadel (August 4, 2025). "A former Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner on the firing of BLS head". NPR.
  17. ^ a b Erica Groshen, William Beach (August 6, 2025). Why Trump Doesn't Trust Jobs Revisions, While Economists Do. WSJ (Internet video). The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  18. ^ David Goldman (August 4, 2025). "Trump says the Bureau of Labor Statistics orchestrated a 'scam.' Here's how the jobs report really works". CNN. Retrieved August 6, 2025. [Updated August 6, 2025]
  19. ^ Boris Sanchez, William Beach , Daniel Koh (August 4, 2025). How the jobs report really works (Internet video). CNN. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  20. ^ Grossman, Matt. "Real Strains Inside the BLS Made It Vulnerable to Trump's Accusations". WSJ. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
  21. ^ "Past BLS Commissioners". bls.gov.
  22. ^ "Geoffrey H. Moore". BLS.
  23. ^ "Julius Shiskin". BLS.
  24. ^ "Janet Norwood". BLS.
  25. ^ "Katharine G. Abraham". BLS.
  26. ^ "Kathleen Utgoff". BLS.
  27. ^ "Keith Hall". BLS.
  28. ^ "Erica L. Groshen". BLS.
  29. ^ "William W. Beach". BLS.
  30. ^ "Passing the Baton to the New BLS Commissioner". BLS. March 28, 2019.
  31. ^ "Dr. Erika McEntarfer, Commissioner". BLS.
  32. ^ "Subject Area Categories : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics". Archived from the original on February 23, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  33. ^ "American Time Use Survey". Bureau of Labor Statistics. Archived from the original on February 23, 2017.
  34. ^ "Current Employment Statistics". Bureau of Labor Statistics. Archived from the original on February 23, 2017.
  35. ^ "Local Area Unemployment Statistics". Bureau of Labor Statistics. Archived from the original on September 8, 2017.
  36. ^ "Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Current Employment Statistics survey (State & Metro Area) Home Page". Bls.gov. May 30, 2012. Archived from the original on June 15, 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2012.
  37. ^ "Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey Home Page". Bls.gov. Archived from the original on June 16, 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2012.
  38. ^ "Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages". Bls.gov. March 28, 2012. Archived from the original on June 10, 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2012.
  39. ^ "Business Employment Dynamics Home Page". Bls.gov. May 1, 2012. Archived from the original on October 15, 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2012.
  40. ^ "Mass Layoff Statistics Home Page". Bls.gov. May 16, 2012. Archived from the original on February 23, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  41. ^ "Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities". Bls.gov. Archived from the original on June 26, 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2012.
  42. ^ "Overview of BLS Productivity Statistics". Bls.gov. Archived from the original on June 25, 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2012.

Further reading

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