The 2014 President’s Budget for the Bureau of Labor Statistics

On April 10, 2013, President Obama submitted to Congress his 2014 budget. The 2014 President's Budget proposes $613.8 million in funding for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for the 2014 fiscal year that begins on October 1, 2013. This request is an increase of $4.7 million over the BLS 2012 final enacted level.

The 2014 Budget level is built upon making difficult choices and seeking efficiencies to protect the BLS core programs developing national labor- and price-related statistics. It includes resources to produce a refocused set of data series, as well as undertake initiatives for new data products.

2014 Budget Highlights

The 2014 President’s Budget for the BLS includes the following program changes:

1. Add an Annual Current Population Survey Supplement ($1.6 million). This initiative will enhance the capability of the BLS to collect information relevant to labor force trends, including data on contingent work and alternative work arrangements, and workplace flexibility and work-family balance issues.
2. Support a Supplemental Statistical Poverty Measure ($2.5 million). This proposal will enable the BLS to support the Census Bureau in its development of a supplemental statistical poverty measure using Consumer Expenditure (CE) data. As part of this initiative, the CE Survey program will develop questions to be added to the Interview Survey and move up the delivery date of the CE poverty thresholds to the Census Bureau to early August to support its September release date of the income and poverty report.
3. Maintain Biennial Fielding for the National Longitudinal Surveys (−$1.3 million). In 2012, the BLS elongated the fielding schedule of the 1997 cohort of the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth (NLSY). This amount reflects the remaining savings realized from changing the NLSY97 cohort from an annual to biennial survey. The NLSY79 and NLSY97 cohorts retain their biennial fielding schedules in 2014.

The 2014 President's Budget also carries forward the following program changes from final Congressional action in 2013 to finance other, more critical needs:

4. Eliminate the Measuring Green Jobs Initiative (−$8.1 million). The BLS produced data on employment by industry and occupation for businesses that produce green goods and services. The BLS also conducted special employer surveys to provide data on the occupations and wages of jobs related to green technologies and practices, as well as developed and disseminated career information related to green jobs.
5. Eliminate the Mass Layoff Statistics Program (−$1.8 million). The MLS program provided information that identified, described, and tracked the effects of major job cutbacks in the economy.
6. Eliminate the International Labor Comparisons Program (−$2.0 million). The International Labor Comparisons program provided international comparisons of hourly compensation costs; productivity and unit labor costs; labor force, employment, and unemployment rates; and consumer prices.

The 2014 President's Budget for BLS may be viewed in full at http://www.dol.gov/budget/.

Last Modified Date: April 11, 2013