BLS Publications and Information Services 2012 Annual Summary

At BLS we gauge our impact and effectiveness by looking at: 1) the number of customers we reach; 2) the intensity and extent of their usage of BLS data and information, and; 3) their feedback.

Customers

Visitors to BLS Website

Unique Visitors to BLS Website per Month, on average: 4 million

A "unique visitor", in this context, is an individual who has accessed www.bls.gov at least once during a given month.

 

E-Mail Subscription Service

Total subscribers: 93,090
Total subscriptions (to the 60+ e-mail update and notification lists): 931,066

Twitter

7,582 followers (as of end of 2012)
88 tweets, starting June 26, 2012
Note that Twitter shows post times in the Pacific time zone. Adding 3 hours to the time shown gives Eastern time.

Selected tweets

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Inquiries from the Public: Contacts to BLS via website, e-mail, or phone

35,192 inquiries received and answered
BLS measures such activities through its Customer Inquiry System (CIS)

 

Outreach Activities: Presentations and Exhibits

BLS reached 25,086 data users at 286 outreach and educational activities in 2012
BLS measures such activities through its Outreach Activities Tracking System (OATS)

Selected venues and audiences

• C-SPAN Washington Journal – America by the Numbers
• National Association for Business Economics
• Association of Public Data Users
• Institute for Supply Management
• Tennessee Safety and Health Congress
• Upper Township (NJ) Middle School
• College Career Centers of Boston
• Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)
• Construction Marketing Research Council
• National Safety Council
• BLS Data Users Advisory Committee
• Society of American Business Editors and Writers
• Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office
• Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce

 

Data and Information Usage

Documents (includes data tables, charts, etc.)

Website Page Views

New and changed web documents posted to www.bls.gov each month, on average: 2,200

Page Views per month, on average: 45.8 million

Each time a user accesses a Web page, it is called a page view. This means, roughly, that each page view represents a person reading one document on www.bls.gov.

National News Releases

175 National news releases issued

Most frequently requested releases (with average monthly page views)

• The Employment Situation (763,934)
• Consumer Price Index (243,378)
• Regional and State Employment and Unemployment (72,348)
• Job Openings and Labor Turnover (56,335)
• Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment (40,794)
• Producer Price Index (40,030)

Regional News Releases

Over 700 Regional News Releases issued

Selected regional releases (with total annual page views)

• Consumer Price Index, Los Angeles area (47,765)
• Average Energy Prices in New York-Northern New Jersey (34,690)
• Unemployment Rates by County in Pennsylvania (30,726)
• Employer Costs for Employee Compensation for the Regions (12,509)

Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-13 Edition

80,079,379 total annual page views

Most Read Occupational Profiles (with total annual page views)

• Registered Nurses (1,379,400)
• Social Workers (1,030,523)
• Psychologists (964,494)
• Physicians and Surgeons (876,187)
• Physical Therapists (825,151)
• Kindergarten and Elementary School Teachers (779,241)

The Monthly Labor Review

12 issues, containing 47 articles and 39 features

Selected MLR Articles (with total annual page views)

• Labor force projections to 2020: a more slowly growing workforce (598,257)
• The hard truth about telecommuting (204,614)
• On guard against workplace hazards (127,525)
• Recent trends in the characteristics of unemployment insurance recipients (62,103)
• The declining average size of establishments: evidence and explanations (58,051)
• Older workers and short-term jobs: patterns and determinants (53,707)
• Wife's Employment and Allocation of Resources in Families with Children (50,566)
• Measuring annual change in household wealth with the Consumer Expenditure Survey (47,703)
• Can you hear me now? Occupational hearing loss, 2004–2010 (46,217)

Occupational Outlook Quarterly

4 issues, containing 11 articles and 15 features

Selected OOQ articles (with total annual page views)

• Occupational Employment (315,900)
• High wages after high school—without a bachelor's degree (154,697)
• Math at Work: Using Numbers on the Job (25,629)
• More than play: Three careers in sports (25,013)

Compensation and Working Conditions Online

9 issues

Most frequently read CWC Online articles (with total annual page views)

• Paid Sick Leave: Prevalence, Provision, and Usage among Full-Time Workers in Private Industry (9,960)
• Tracking Employment-Based Health Benefits in Changing Times (9,888)
• Profiles of Significant Collective Bargaining Disputes of 2011 (4,972)
• Data Working for a Working Nation: Uses of BLS Occupational Safety and Health Statistics (4,570)

Detailed Reports

Selected Detailed Reports (with average monthly page views)

• Consumer Price Index: CPI Detailed Report (263,159)
• Producer Price Index: PPI Detailed Report (141,622)
• Employment and Earnings Online (10,203)

The Editor's Desk

248 issues, one every work day
3,660 page views per day, on average

 

Other Publications

82 Other publications, including (with with total annual page views)

• Spotlight on Statistics: The Recession of 2007–2009 (201,231)
• Labor Force Characteristics by Race and Ethnicity, 2011 (170,083)
• Consumer Spending in 2010 (137,410)
• Highlight of Women's Earnings in 2011 (91,733)
• Spotlight on Statistics: Fashion (52,552)
• A comparison of 25 years of consumer expenditures by homeowners and renters (24,045)
• Energy Auditors (20,041)
• How Much Do Private Industry Employers Pay for Legally Required Employee Benefits? (18,073)
• Young adult employment during the recent recession (13,411)

Data Downloads

101,244,987 data series, containing 500,538,297 estimates available online at BLS website

Data series downloaded for customers’ own use, on average, per month: 3,968,796 downloads

Most frequently requested data series

• Unemployment Rate: LNS14000000 (156,234 downloads per month, on average)
  
  
  
• Nonfarm Employment: CES0000000001 (35,524 downloads per month, on average)
  
  
  
• Consumer Price Index, not seasonally adjusted: CUUR0000SA0 (33,545 downloads per month, on average)
  
  
  
• Labor Force Participation Rate: LNS11300000 (26,675 downloads per month, on average)
  
  
  
• Consumer Price Index, seasonally adjusted: CUSR0000SA0 (16,720 downloads per month, on average)
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Customer Feedback

As measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index