Career Education Resources at MU Libraries: Government Resources

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics. The BLS is an independent national statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data to the American public, the U.S. Congress, other Federal agencies, State and local governments, business, and labor. The BLS also serves as a statistical resource to the Department of Labor. BLS publishes information about the nation's economy: relating to employment, unemployment, and other characteristics of the labor force; consumer and producer prices, consumer expenditures, and import and export prices; wages and other worker compensation; productivity and technological change; employment projections; and safety and health statistics.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) provides information on what workers do; the work environment; education, training, and other qualifications; pay; the job outlook; information on state and area data; similar occupations; and sources of additional information, for 325 occupational profiles, covering about 4 out of 5 jobs in the economy.

Career Outlook articles provide data and information on a variety of topics—including occupations and industries, pay and benefits, and more. These articles are helpful for students, career counselors, jobseekers, and others planning careers.

Career Outlook has four departments:

present an in-depth look at a range of career topics.

explores unusual occupations through the work of someone in that occupation.

is a graphic presentation of data on employment and other topics.

These pages display a ‘snapshot’ of national data obtained from different BLS surveys and programs. Many programs also produce additional industry detail, including state, county, and metropolitan area data.

BLS wage data are available by occupation for the nation, regions, states, and many metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas.

Databases, charts, and calculations about: Inflation & Prices, Employment & Unemployment, Workplace industries, Occupational Requirements, Pay & Benefits, and more.