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Labor Statistics on the Web
The Bureau of Labor tracks statistics on employment, unemployment, earnings, consumer prices and expenditures, imports and exports, as well as employment projections and turnover rates.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Web site has the latest monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation, employment, unemployment, and other indicators. Historical statistics for CPI and employment can be customized into tables and downloaded to spreadsheets, with data often going back as far as 1913, and available by city, state, county, or region.
Demographic statistics on the workforce are broken down by age, educational level, race, ethnic origin, gender, and occupation. Consumer expenditures can be tracked by household size and composition, age, educational background, income, marital status, gender, and occupation. This feature provides average consumer expenditures by type of product.
Various indices for business costs are available, including Producer Price Index (prices from the seller's perspective) for a variety of industries, employment costs, employee benefits, foreign labor costs, import/export prices, and unit labor costs. These are all invaluable in tracking and projecting costs for a business plan, expanding a business or product line, or merely for estimating the cost of doing business in coming years.
Industry-specific statistics are provided for productivity, employment (including projections), hours, and earnings.
International statistics include import/export price indices, which track the prices of imported and exported non-military goods traded between the U.S. and other countries. Also included are foreign labor costs, employment, and unemployment statistics by industry and country.
The site offers an e-mail feature that will send regular alerts free of charge on various indicators, including CPI, Employment Cost Index, Mass Layoffs, Import/Exports, Producer Price Index, and Productivity & Costs. Contact information for state and federal labor offices is listed.