Dissemination

Our release calendar lets you know when data are coming. You can subscribe to the BLS News Service to receive news releases and other information by e-mail immediately after publication.

The BLS website has publications and data tools to help you find what you're looking for. Check out the dropdown menus at the top of every page.

Release and Dissemination Policy

Everyone at BLS must safeguard the confidentiality of the businesses, households, and individuals that provide the information we use to produce statistics about the U.S. labor market and economy. We also must protect those statistics, our analysis of them, and information about our statistical methods to ensure everyone receives equal access at the same time. This policy outlines how we make our statistical products accessible to everyone in a fair and timely manner.

Where to find BLS economic news releases and accompanying data

Our economic news releases appear on our homepage within seconds of their official release time. Previously published news releases are available in our news release archives.

When we publish economic news releases, we update our databases, which you can access through our data retrieval tools. Many of our news releases also come with interactive charts. 

You can subscribe to receive email alerts about our news releases and other publications on our subscriptions page. We post links to all BLS news releases on our social media pages on X, Threads, and Bluesky. You can also find us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. 

Where to find the schedule for BLS economic news releases

We publish our news release schedule well in advance. For the seven BLS economic news releases that have been designated by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget as Principal Federal Economic Indicators (PFEI), we typically publish the scheduled release dates and times on our website in the fall for the following calendar year. All seven PFEIs are scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time on the dates shown on our public calendar. The seven PFEI economic news releases are the following:

• The Employment Situation
• Consumer Price Index
• Producer Price Indexes
• U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes
• Real Earnings
• Employment Cost Index
• Productivity and Costs

We also publish many other important economic news releases that are not designated as PFEIs. We include these releases on our public calendar too. All non-PFEI releases are scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on the dates shown on our public calendar.

Data dissemination if BLS is unable to post a scheduled release on www.bls.gov

On very rare occasions, a technical problem may prevent BLS from publishing an economic news release on our website on time. If that occurs, BLS will put notifications of a delay on its social media accounts on Bluesky, X, and Threads. In some instances, BLS also may post the text of some releases to our social media accounts.

Advance access to BLS economic news releases

A limited number of people outside BLS receive access to economic news releases before their official release. For PFEI releases, BLS follows protocols for prerelease access specified in the Office of Management and Budget’s Statistical Policy Directive No. 3. For non-PFEI releases, BLS follows protocols specified in Statistical Policy Directive No. 4.

Other ways BLS publishes data and analysis

In addition to our economic news releases, BLS publishes analyses through other publishing formats available on our publications page. These publications typically provide more focused analysis of data that BLS has previously published.

BLS follows guidelines for informing users of information quality and methodology. We publish detailed information about the statistical methods of our surveys and programs in the Handbook of Methods. When we improve survey methods, we announce the changes in our news releases and in notices on the BLS website.

In addition to publishing our news releases, we update the BLS website twice each business day, usually just after 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. These updates include publications, information about our surveys and programs, and periodic announcements important to data users.

BLS also periodically creates videos to help viewers understand our data and methods.

Public-use microdata files

A few BLS programs have public-use microdata files available for researchers to use. These surveys include the Current Population Survey, American Time Use Survey, National Longitudinal Surveys, and Consumer Expenditure Surveys. BLS takes steps to ensure the data meet standards to ensure individuals, family members, and employers cannot be identified directly or indirectly. These datasets are released as soon as they have been prepared and have received the necessary reviews and approvals for quality and confidentiality protection.

Restricted-access microdata

BLS allows eligible researchers the opportunity to gain access to restricted data files for select statistical research projects. Researchers must apply through the standard application process (SAP) to be considered. For more information on which data sets are available for research see the BLS Restricted Data Access page.

Last modified date: August 28, 2026