# BLS Scraper: US Inflation & Labor Time Series (`naimurhasanrwd/bls-series-scraper`) Actor

Pull US Bureau of Labor Statistics time series such as CPI and unemployment via the public API. No login, no proxy, no browser.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/naimurhasanrwd/bls-series-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Naimur Hasan](https://apify.com/naimurhasanrwd) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-usage

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## BLS Scraper

Pulls US Bureau of Labor Statistics time series — CPI, unemployment and
anything else with a series ID — through the public API. No login, no proxy,
no browser.

### Input

| Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `seriesIds` | array | Required. BLS series IDs. Default `["CUUR0000SA0", "LNS14000000"]` (CPI-U all items, unemployment rate). |

### Output

One row per observation: `seriesId`, `year`, `period`, `periodName`, `month`,
`value`, `isLatest`, `footnotes`.

### Notes

- **`M13` is not a month.** BLS uses it for the annual average, so the derived
  `month` is `null` there rather than 13 — filtering on `month` therefore
  excludes annual rows automatically.
- `latest` arrives as the string `"true"`, not a boolean, and is converted.
- BLS answers a bad series ID with HTTP 200 and a `status` of
  `REQUEST_NOT_PROCESSED`, so the status field is checked explicitly rather
  than trusting the HTTP code.
- This uses the keyless v1 API, which returns roughly the last three years and
  is rate limited to a modest number of daily queries per IP. v2 offers longer
  history but requires a registration key.
- `footnotes` is padded with empty objects upstream; those are dropped.

# Actor input Schema

## `seriesIds` (type: `array`):

BLS series IDs. CUUR0000SA0 is CPI-U all items; LNS14000000 is the unemployment rate.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "seriesIds": [
    "CUUR0000SA0",
    "LNS14000000"
  ]
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `items` (type: `string`):

Every observation the run returned.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "seriesIds": [
        "CUUR0000SA0",
        "LNS14000000"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("naimurhasanrwd/bls-series-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "seriesIds": [
        "CUUR0000SA0",
        "LNS14000000",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("naimurhasanrwd/bls-series-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "seriesIds": [
    "CUUR0000SA0",
    "LNS14000000"
  ]
}' |
apify call naimurhasanrwd/bls-series-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,naimurhasanrwd/bls-series-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/B0SuOsnZInbY89kIh/builds/GxArJzD40a77Fz3x4/openapi.json