Bureau Of Labor Statistics
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is chock-full o' data for anyone interested in the US labor market. These reports contain important information on jobs, salaries, inflation and more. As of their most recent report, the unemployment rate was at 4.2% and nonfarm payroll employment rose by a total of only 142k new jobs in August (even though there were gains in construction & healthcare).
If you need inspiration, the BLS also produces an Occupational Outlook Handbook that contains profiles of hundreds of occupations with employment and salary trends and industry growth prospects. examples of them are Funeral Service Workers, Insurance Underwriters, Computer and Information Research Scientists Atmospheric Scientists.
The division of the US Department of Labor BLS provides essential economic data to Congress, other Federal agencies state government business and labor on payroll and price statistics.
Key Functions:
1. BLS Data Collection: How the BLS Collects Information It contains data on employment, wages and prices, productivity training volume occupations fiscalization socioeconomic indicators health-security in work accommodations necessary for the annual comparison of states.
2. Enter “Data Analysis,” or when the BLS actually crunches these numbers to spot trends, patterns and correlations. It requires using statistical methods and models to generate insights from the data.
3. Data Dissemination: Once the data is analyzed, it gets disseminated by BLS to general public through a number of ways such as reports, publications and on website or social media & press releases.
Surveys Conducted by BLS:
1. CPI (Consumer Price Index): Monthly survey tracking the prices of goods and services as a measure for inflation.
2. PPI: A measure of monthly sampling prices for certain key goods and services that producers are paying.
3. Current Population Survey (CPS): A monthly survey of about 60,000 households conducted by the US Bureau or labor statistics which provides a comprehensive body of demographic and labor information.
4. OES — Occupational Employment Statistics: The systematic collection of employment and wage estimates in the United States.
5. Current Employment Statistics (CES): provides data on employment, hours worked and earnings.
Methods Used by BLS:
1. Sample selection: The BLS collects almost all the data for their surveys by sampling a subset of either people or businesses(entities) out of everyone, and that means they need to use some sort of technique to selected who gets included in each survey.
2. Weighting: Finally, the BLS uses weighting techniques in order to adapt sample data so that it reflects an accurate picture of a larger population.
3. Seasonal Adjustment: By seasonal adjustment, BLS aims to adjust data series for the traditional fluctuations that occur in the same period within a year on account of climate changes and holidays.
4. Benchmarking: The BLS benchmarked the numbers to a known population or economic indicator so as not rely solely on reported data when it does not provide enough power.
Challenges Faced by BLS:
1. The accuracy and reliability of the data collected., Data Quality.
2. Response Rates: High response rates to surveys for representative sample sizes.
3. Financial resources: Getting enough capital to back up gathering and data analysis processes.
4. Timely: Providing data when needed by users.
Impact of BLS:
1. Policy, Business and individual Decision-Making: One of the products BLS produce is data (that goes out in many forms) to inform decision making by policymakers, businesses etc.
2. Research: Economists use BLS data to look for patterns in economic trends and developments.
3. Labor market analysis (using BLS data to analyze labor- market trend-which Industry is growing and which declining)
4. Development of Policy: BLS data is used to study and evaluate policy decisions associated with employment, wages, and inflation.
Conclusion: Estimates from the BLS are closely watched by policymakers, private economiest and industry groups because they provide critical data used to make policy decisions.
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