BLS Dataset
: This dataset is constructed from data in the BLS website (http://www.bls.gov/data/). The basic
rule to construct this dataset is (1) if a series ID format is well-defined and data can be
categorized by the series ID format (e.g. Employment), the dataset is constructed according to
the simplest classification criterion presented in the series ID format (e.g. data types indicated
by the last two digits of employment series ID). (2) If there is no clear series ID format for data,
but if there is a BLS News Release associated with the data (e.g. CPI and Labor Force), the
dataset is constructed according to the New Release. (3) If data have neither a clear series ID
format nor a News Release, the dataset is constructed according to a classification criterion
suggested in BLS database (e.g. Average Price Data). (4) If dataset cannot be applied by any of
aforementioned rules, simply one file that contains all related data (e.g. Chained CPI) is
constructed.
1. Inflation & Prices
1.1. All Urban Consumers (Current Series, CPI)
: Constructed according to BLS News Release (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.toc.htm) Table 1-5.
Two files (CPI_U_0_AllData_Monthly and CPI_U_0_AllData_SAnnual) that are constructed according to
data periodicity contain all CPI-U data. Table 6 and 7 of BLS News Release are omitted due to limited
availability of data (relative importance and seasonally adjusted effect).
1.2. Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (Current Series, CPI)
: Constructed according to BLS News Release’s Supplemental File
(http://www.bls.gov/web/cpi.supp.toc.htm, CPI_W News Release Companion File). Two files
(CPI_W_0_AllData_Monthly and CPI_W_0_AllData_SAnnual) that are constructed according to data
periodicity contain all CPI-W data.
1.3. All Urban Consumers (Chained CPI)
: A file that contains all chained CPI data is constructed because the original data are small. A part of
dataset was used to construct Table 5 of CPI-U dataset (Section 1.1).
1.4. Average Price Data (CPI)
: Constructed according to industry classification present in the original dataset
(http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/ap/). A file that contains all average price data is also
constructed.
1.5. Industry Data (PPI)
: Constructed according to industry classification present in the original dataset
(http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/pc/).
1.6. Commodity Data including “headline” FD-ID (PPI)
: Constructed according to both a group (http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/wp/wp.group). This
dataset is more comprehensive than the data reported in a News Release
(http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t01.htm).
1.7. Import/Export Price Indexes
: Constructed according to a type of indexes (http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/ei/ei.index).
These datasets are more comprehensive than data in a News Release
(http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ximpim.toc.htm).
2. Employment/Unemployment
2.1. Employment, Hours and Earnings – National (CES)
: Constructed according to data type (http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/ce/ce.datatype) and
industry (super sector and all sectors).
2.1. Employment, Hours and Earnings – State and Metro Area (CES)
: Constructed according to data type (http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/sm/sm.data_type) and
state (http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/sm/sm.state).
2.3. Labor Force (CPS)
: Constructed according to BLS News Release (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.toc.htm, Table
A).
2.4. Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)
: Constructed according to the classification presented in the original dataset
(http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/jt/, 2 to 7).
2.5. Business Employment Dynamics (BDM)
: Constructed according to state (http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/bd/bd.state).
2.6. Employment and Wages from Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Survey
: This data set currently exists only for 2014. A file that contains all data is constructed.
2.7. American Time Use Survey (ATUS)
: Constructed according to BLS News Release (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.toc.htm). Data for
Table 9 and 10 are not found in the data base (http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/tu/).
2.8. Union Affiliation Data (CPS)
: A file that contains all union affiliation data is constructed.
2.9. Marital and Family Labor Force Statistics
: A file that contains all data is constructed.
2.10. Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS)
: Constructed according to an area (http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.area_type) and data
type (http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.measure).
3. Pay and Benefits
3.1. National Compensation Survey
: Omitted due to the data set size.
3.2. Employment Cost Index
: National data are constructed according to the type of an estimated data
(http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/ci/ci.estimate) and owner
(http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/ci/ci.owner). Regional data are combined in one file. Data for
all workers in all industry are separately prepared in a file for researchers’ convenience.
3.3. Employer Cost for Employee Compensation
: Constructed according to the owner (http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/cm/cm.owner) and
estimate type (http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/cm/cm.estimate).
3.4. Employee Benefits Survey (1985-2006)
: Constructed according to data type (http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/eb/eb.type)
3.5. National Compensation Survey - Benefits (Beginning with 2010 data)
: Constructed according to provision type (http://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/nb/nb.provision).
3.6. Work Stoppage Data
: Some monthly series were annually collected before 1981. Thus, two files, annual and monthly, are
created: an annual data contains original annual data (prior to 1981) and annual averages of monthly
data (after 1981).
3.7. Weekly and Hourly Earnings (Current Population Survey – CPS)
: Constructed according to BLS News Release (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/wkyeng.toc.htm).