BLS Official Print (CPI, PPI, CES)

What does BLS Official Print do?

One dataset row per observation from the BLS Public Data API v2. This is official print, not a scrape of bls.gov HTML. The Actor POSTs to https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v2/timeseries/data/.

Why use it

• Drop CPI, PPI, and CES print into a scheduler or a notebook without copying tables off bls.gov.
• Keep suppressed months as value: null with value_raw: "-" and the bureau footnote. No fabricated numbers.
• Optionally ask BLS for net and percent-change calculations (calculations: true) and annual averages.
• Cite the series. This SKU does not forecast, nowcast, or wrap non-BLS series.

What you get

Each dataset item is one observation. You are billed the row event once per item actually written, including suppressed - months (those are real BLS rows, not invented values).

Field	Type	Notes
series_id	string	BLS series identifier
survey	string	Inferred from prefix: CPI, CPI-W, C-CPI, PPI, PPI-industry, CES, ECI, CPS, LAUS, or UNKNOWN
year	string	Observation year
period	string	M01–M13 or quarter codes
period_name	string	January, Annual, etc.
value	number | null	Numeric print, or null when BLS published - / NA
value_raw	string	Raw BLS value string
latest	boolean	True when BLS flagged the point as latest
footnotes	array	Non-empty footnote objects
calculations	object | null	BLS net/percent-change object when you set input calculations: true
catalog_title	string | null	Series title when catalog was returned
catalog	object | null	Full catalog object when BLS returned one
retrieved_at	string	UTC timestamp of the API call

How much it costs

Pay-per-event. One event, charged only on a successful write.

Event name	Title	Bronze price
row	BLS observation	$0.002

No row charge on REQUEST_FAILED, a bad year range, or an unknown preset. Store context (Demand, 2026-08-28, retrieved): BLS/FRED/CPI listings on the Store show roughly 0–1 monthly users. This SKU is official-print plumbing, not a demand leader. It ships because CoS locked it, not because the category is crowded.

Input

See the input tab. Required: presets and/or seriesIds (max 50 series per BLS v2 call).

Presets:

Input	Series	Survey
cpi_u	CUUR0000SA0	CPI-U, all items
ppi_final_demand	WPUFD4	PPI final demand
ces_total_nonfarm	CES0000000001	CES total nonfarm employment

Other fields:

• startYear / endYear (four-digit). Unregistered calls are limited to 10 years; a registration key allows 20.
• registrationKey (secret, optional). Raises daily limits and unlocks catalog titles. Never stored in git. Get one at https://data.bls.gov/registrationEngine/
• catalog (default true). Series titles need a registration key.
• calculations (default false). When true, BLS returns net and percent-change calculations on each observation; this Actor stores that object on the row.
• annualAverage (default false)
• latestOnly (default false). Keeps the first observation BLS returns per series (API v2 is newest-first).

Output

Download the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML. Example rows:

{
  "series_id": "CUUR0000SA0",
  "survey": "CPI",
  "year": "2025",
  "period": "M12",
  "period_name": "December",
  "value": 324.054,
  "value_raw": "324.054",
  "latest": true,
  "footnotes": [],
  "calculations": null,
  "catalog_title": "All items in U.S. city average, all urban consumers, not seasonally adjusted",
  "catalog": { "series_title": "All items in U.S. city average, all urban consumers, not seasonally adjusted" },
  "retrieved_at": "2026-08-28T20:00:00+00:00"
}

A suppressed month keeps value null, value_raw "-", and the footnote. You still get the row.

Not in v1

Forecasts, nowcasts, hurricane landfall, elections, or any non-BLS series.

Terms of use and takedown

This Actor reads the BLS Public Data API v2 only. It does not scrape bls.gov HTML and does not invent values for suppressed months.

ToS. You must follow BLS terms of use and citation rules for republished series. Do not present observations as a BLS product, as a forecast, or as anything other than the bureau's published print. A registration key, if you use one, stays in Actor input and out of git.

Takedown. BLS public series are generally redistributable with attribution. If the bureau or a downstream licensee needs a series dropped from presets or docs, email nicholas.jaskolski@gmail.com with the subject takedown bls-official-print and the series ID. Confirmed requests are honored.