BLS Unemployment Scraper

BLS Unemployment Scraper

Scrape official U.S. unemployment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 1948 to the latest release. Every record includes the series ID, year, period, value, and footnotes, returned as a clean flat row. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the nation's official unemployment figures, but downloading historical data series by hand means navigating multiple portals and formatting exports. This Actor reads the BLS public API directly, pulling any LAUS series you request, from the national rate down to a single county, and returns every observation in one consistent schema.

Who uses it	What they scrape Bureau of Labor Statistics for
Economists	Build long-run unemployment trend models with clean data from 1948 forward.
Financial analysts	Feed the latest national and state unemployment releases into dashboards and reports.
Data journalists	Pull county-level unemployment figures for local economic reporting.
Academic researchers	Assemble panel datasets of labor market indicators across multiple geographies.

What it does

This Actor collects BLS unemployment data for one or more series IDs and returns each monthly or annual observation as a flat row.

• 📅 Full historical range: request data back to 1948, the earliest year the BLS LAUS survey covers.
• 📍 Any geography: national, state, county, or metro area, driven by the series ID you provide.
• 📊 Fixed flat schema: year, period, period name, value, and footnotes in every row, ready for analysis.
• 🔁 Multiple series per run: pass a list of series IDs and collect them all in one dataset.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with Bureau of Labor Statistics data

📈 Track national unemployment trends.

An economist runs the Actor with the national rate series each month to update a long-run chart from 1948 to the present.

🗺️ Compare state labor markets.

A policy analyst pulls unemployment series for all 50 states to rank which regions are tightening or softening.

🏘️ Report on local economic conditions.

A data journalist collects county-level unemployment figures to power an interactive map for a news story.

📊 Feed a financial model.

A quant researcher ingests the latest national unemployment value into a macro model that drives asset-allocation decisions.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
Official source	Data comes directly from the BLS public API, the same source that feeds the monthly jobs report.
Long history	Pull unemployment series from 1948 through the most recent release.
Any geography	National, state, county, and metro area series are all supported through LAUS codes.
Clean output	Every row is flat and typed: year, period, period name, value, and footnotes.

How it compares

No other Store actor targets Bureau of Labor Statistics the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	BLS Unemployment Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When Bureau of Labor Statistics changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with one or more BLS series IDs and optional start and end years. Only matching observations land in your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "seriesIds": [
 "LNS14000000"
 ],
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "seriesIds": [
 "LNS14000000"
 ],
 "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.021 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$2.10
1,000 results	$21.00
10,000 results	$210.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the BLS Unemployment Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Bureau of Labor Statistics through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/bls-unemployment-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that your series ID is valid. You can verify it on the BLS website. Also confirm your start and end years form a valid range where data exists.

The data seems outdated.

The BLS releases unemployment figures on a fixed monthly schedule. If the latest month is not yet published, the API will not return it. Check the BLS release calendar.

I hit the free-user record limit.

Free runs are capped at 10 records as a preview. Upgrade to a paid Apify plan to pull up to one million records per run.

My series ID returns an error.

Series IDs are case-sensitive and must match exactly. Copy the code directly from the BLS website and try again.

Can I get data older than 1948?

The BLS LAUS survey begins in 1948. Data before that year is not available through this program.

FAQ

Question	Answer
What is a BLS series ID?	A series ID is a code that identifies a specific dataset in the BLS LAUS survey. LNS14000000 is the national unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted. You can find other codes on the BLS website for states, counties, and metro areas.
How far back can I pull data?	The BLS LAUS survey begins in 1948. You can set the start year as early as 1948 and the end year as late as the current year.
Can I get data for a specific state or county?	Yes. Provide the correct LAUS series ID for that geography. The BLS website lists codes for every state, county, and metropolitan area.
Does this include the latest jobs report numbers?	The Actor pulls whatever the BLS public API returns. If the monthly release has been published, the data will be available.
What does seasonally adjusted mean?	Seasonally adjusted data has had regular calendar effects removed so you can compare one month to the next. The BLS provides both adjusted and unadjusted series.
Can I pull multiple series in one run?	Yes. Pass a list of series IDs and the Actor will collect all of them into one dataset.
What format does the data export to?	You can export your results to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify dataset tab.
Is there a limit on how many records I can pull?	Free users are limited to 10 records as a preview. Paid users can pull up to one million records per run.
Do I need an API key from the BLS?	No. This Actor uses the BLS public API and requires no registration or key from the BLS.
What is the LAUS survey?	The Local Area Unemployment Statistics program produces monthly employment and unemployment estimates for thousands of geographic areas across the United States.

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Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.