# US BLS Labor Statistics Scraper (Unemployment, CPI, Wages) (`scrapers_lat/bls-labor-statistics-scraper`) Actor
Scrape U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics time series: unemployment, inflation (CPI), producer prices (PPI), payroll employment, wages, hours and job openings. Pick a friendly indicator name or paste raw series IDs. Clean flat rows with value, period and dates. Export to JSON, CSV or Excel.
- **URL**: https://apify.com/scrapers\_lat/bls-labor-statistics-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Scrapers Lat](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet
## Pricing
from $12.75 / 1,000 results
This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.
Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event
## What's an Apify Actor?
Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".
## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.
- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).
For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.
For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).
# README
## US BLS Labor Statistics Scraper (Unemployment, CPI, Wages, Jobs)
> Pull official U.S. labor and economic time series as clean, flat rows: unemployment, inflation (CPI), producer prices (PPI), payroll employment, wages, hours and job openings. Pick a plain-English indicator name (no cryptic codes needed) or paste raw series IDs, choose a year range, and export ready-to-analyse data for finance, HR, research and dashboards.
**📥 [Input](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/bls-labor-statistics-scraper/input-schema) · 📤 [Output](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/bls-labor-statistics-scraper/output-schema) · 💰 [Pricing](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/bls-labor-statistics-scraper/pricing) · ▶️ [Examples](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/bls-labor-statistics-scraper/examples)**
Unemployment, CPI & wages plus jobs and hours
Friendly names or raw series IDs
JSON / CSV / Excel output formats
### What you get
Each record is a single flat data point with:
- **Series ID** and a readable **indicator** name (and survey name where available)
- **Year**, **period** code, **period name** (e.g. June, Annual, 1st Quarter) and a **period type** (monthly, quarterly, annual)
- A normalised **date** and the **value** for that point
- **Net changes** and **percent changes** over 1, 3, 6 and 12 months (when a registration key is supplied)
- A **latest** flag on the most recent point, footnotes, the source and an observed timestamp
Instead of forcing you to memorise codes, this Actor ships friendly indicator presets: `unemployment-rate`, `cpi-inflation`, `cpi-core`, `nonfarm-payrolls`, `avg-hourly-earnings`, `ppi-final-demand`, `job-openings`, `quits` and more. You can still paste any raw BLS series ID.
### Who is it for
| Use case | Who benefits |
|---|---|
| Finance & macro | Analysts tracking inflation, wages and the labor market |
| HR & compensation | Teams benchmarking pay and hours against national trends |
| Research & policy | Economists building consistent time series |
| Dashboards & data apps | Builders feeding official indicators into their own tools |
### How to use it
1. Add one or more **indicators** by friendly name (e.g. `unemployment-rate`, `cpi-inflation`) or raw series ID.
2. Set a **start year** and **end year**.
3. Set **Max Records** and run. Export as JSON, CSV or Excel, or pull it through the Apify API.
### Frequently Asked Questions
**Do I need an account or key?**
No. It runs out of the box on the free public access. Add your own free registration key in the optional field to raise the limits and unlock month/year change calculations and richer metadata.
**Do I have to know series IDs?**
No. Use the plain-English presets listed in the input. Series IDs are still accepted for anything not covered by a preset.
**Which indicators are covered?**
Unemployment and participation, CPI inflation (headline, core, food, energy), producer prices, payroll employment, average hourly earnings and weekly hours, and JOLTS job openings, hires, quits and layoffs. Any other BLS series works by its ID.
**What do the change columns mean?**
When a registration key is supplied, each point includes the net and percent change over 1, 3, 6 and 12 months, so you can read year-over-year inflation or wage growth directly.
**Will I be charged if a run finds nothing?**
No. You are only charged per real data point returned. A run that matches no data produces no billable results.
### Export, API and AI agents (x402 + MCP)
Export the scraped data to **JSON, CSV or Excel**, pull it as a **dataset** through the Apify **API**, or wire it into your app with **no code**. This web scraper and data extractor also works for bulk data extraction and scheduled runs.
For AI agents: this Actor is available on **x402**, Apify's agentic payment standard built with Coinbase. An AI agent can discover, pay for and run it on its own with a funded wallet and a single HTTP request: no account, no subscription, no API key and no human in the loop. It also runs as an **MCP** tool inside Claude, Cursor and other AI clients out of the box. Learn more about [x402 agentic payments on Apify](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/x402).
### Related scrapers
- [World Bank Indicators Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/world-bank-indicators-scraper)
- [Yahoo Finance Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/yahoo-finance-scraper)
- [Federal Register Rules & Notices Scraper (USA)](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/federal-register-scraper)
### More scrapers at scrapers.lat
This actor is built and maintained by [scrapers.lat](https://scrapers.lat), where we publish scrapers for public platforms: finance, news, real estate, jobs, e-commerce and government data. Browse the full catalog or ask us for a custom scraper at [scrapers.lat](https://scrapers.lat).
***
> This actor is an independent tool and has no affiliation with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics or any government agency. It only accesses publicly available statistics. Use the results in accordance with the source's terms.
# Actor input Schema
## `series` (type: `array`):
Pick friendly indicator names or paste raw BLS series IDs. One run covers every series you list. Presets: unemployment-rate, unemployment-rate-nsa, labor-force-participation, employment-population-ratio, nonfarm-payrolls, private-payrolls, avg-hourly-earnings, avg-weekly-hours, cpi-inflation, cpi-inflation-sa, cpi-core, cpi-food, cpi-energy, ppi-final-demand, job-openings, quits, hires, layoffs. Or use any BLS series ID (e.g. LNS14000000).
## `startYear` (type: `integer`):
First year to return (inclusive).
## `endYear` (type: `integer`):
Last year to return (inclusive).
## `maxRecords` (type: `integer`):
Maximum number of data points to return across the whole run.
## `apiToken` (type: `string`):
Optional. Leave empty to use the free public access. Provide your own free BLS registration key to unlock higher limits, month/year change calculations and richer series metadata.
## Actor input object example
```json
{
"series": [
"unemployment-rate",
"cpi-inflation"
],
"startYear": 2022,
"endYear": 2024,
"maxRecords": 500
}
```
# Actor output Schema
## `results` (type: `string`):
No description
# 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 '' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
token: '',
});
// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
"series": [
"unemployment-rate",
"cpi-inflation"
],
"startYear": 2022,
"endYear": 2024,
"maxRecords": 500
};
// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("scrapers_lat/bls-labor-statistics-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 '' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("")
# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
"series": [
"unemployment-rate",
"cpi-inflation",
],
"startYear": 2022,
"endYear": 2024,
"maxRecords": 500,
}
# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("scrapers_lat/bls-labor-statistics-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)
# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
print(item)
# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start
```
## CLI example
```bash
echo '{
"series": [
"unemployment-rate",
"cpi-inflation"
],
"startYear": 2022,
"endYear": 2024,
"maxRecords": 500
}' |
apify call scrapers_lat/bls-labor-statistics-scraper --silent --output-dataset
```
## MCP server setup
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"apify": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"mcp-remote",
"https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=scrapers_lat/bls-labor-statistics-scraper",
"--header",
"Authorization: Bearer "
]
}
}
}
```
## OpenAPI specification
Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/Qqg3rUIUwSMbPAmFu/builds/AdXUFyv66HbyeFwYx/openapi.json