United States Department of Labor
This week BLS unveiled the redesign of our flagship research publication, the Monthly Labor Review (MLR). Established in 1915, the MLR is the principal journal of fact, analysis, and research from BLS. Over the years, the MLR has undergone various changes to both its content and appearance. This latest redesign incorporates modern web features to improve appearance, navigation, and search capabilities. The publication schedule also is changing. Rather than publishing articles at the end of each month, the MLR now will be published on a flow basis as articles become ready throughout the month. Each article will be dated with the month and the year of publication to make searching the MLR archives easier. This will provide fresh content to our readers throughout the month. There will be times when we will publish articles simultaneously, but we will reserve this for special compilation issues, such as the biennial issue on employment projections. This design journey has been 2 years in the making, and we hope you enjoy the new look. You can learn more about the history of the MLR and the redesign in the new article by Emily Lloyd Liddel, executive editor of the MLR.
We also recently published a new edition of Beyond the Numbers that examines the question, “Why are there revisions to the jobs numbers?” Estimates of jobs gained or lost each month are closely watched by policymakers and those who work in the financial markets and the news media. When the estimates are revised in subsequent months, however, data users sometimes perceive a very different picture of the job market than what was initially reported. The revised estimates include additional information that was not available at the time of the initial release—information that makes the revised estimates more accurate. This article explains the data collection process that BLS conducts every month to produce the estimate of U.S. employment change. The article also clarifies why BLS releases revisions to the initial release, so that users will better understand the change, if any, in the estimates.
Finally, the recent tragedy in which firefighters in Arizona lost their lives fighting a wildfire highlights the importance of BLS data on occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. We posted a new factsheet this week on the risks firefighters face on the job.