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Bureau of Labor Statistics

U.S. federal government statistical agency

Owned byU.S. Department of Labor (federal agency); no private ownership
FundingAnnual congressional appropriations; approximately $700–800 million per fiscal year; no advertising, subscriptions, or private funding
On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

The BLS was established by Congress on June 27, 1884, as the Bureau of Labor inside the Department of the Interior, created to gather facts on wages and working conditions as the U.S. economy industrialized. Carroll D. Wright served as its first commissioner from 1885 to 1905 and set the agency's standard for methodological rigor. The bureau moved to the new Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903, then to the standalone Department of Labor when it was created in 1913, where it has remained. Over the 20th century the BLS built and maintained flagship data series including the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the monthly jobs report (from the Current Population Survey), and the Producer Price Index. It is funded entirely by congressional appropriations and is part of the federal statistical system, which by long-standing norm operates independently of political direction. That norm came under acute strain in August 2025, when President Trump fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer — who had been confirmed 86–0 by the Senate in 2024 — hours after a weak jobs report, publicly claiming the data was politically manipulated; bipartisan former commissioners, statisticians, and the SBA's own chief counsel condemned the firing as an unprecedented attack on statistical independence. As of mid-2026, Deputy Commissioner William Wiatrowski has served as acting head while a permanent replacement is sought, and the agency's budget has been under pressure, with inflation-adjusted funding requests well below 2023 levels.

Sources

  1. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Wikipedia
  2. Founding of the Bureau of Labor Statistics — Library of Congress
  3. History of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — BLS.gov
  4. Trump fires BLS commissioner after weak jobs report — NBC News
  5. Trump's firing of the BLS chief follows a familiar pattern — Poynter
  6. Firing BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer — Economic Policy Institute
  7. Why the Firing of the BLS Commissioner Should Concern Every Data User — Urban Institute
  8. BLS Must Be Adequately Funded — Center for American Progress
  9. FY 2026 BLS Congressional Budget Justification — DOL

Profile compiled 2026-06-25; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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