blsAPI

Request Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics API

Introduction

blsAPI is an R package that allows users to request data for one or multiple series through the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics API. Users provide parameters as specified in http://www.bls.gov/developers/api_signature.htm and the function returns a JSON string or data frame.

Installation

blsAPI can be installed easily through CRAN or GitHub Select which repository you would like to use and type the following commands in R:

CRAN

install.packages('blsAPI')

GitHub

library(devtools); install_github('mikeasilva/blsAPI')

API Basics

The blsAPI package supports two versions of the BLS API. API Version 2.0 requires registration and offers greater query limits. It also allows users to request net and percent changes and series description information. See below for more details.

Service	Version 2.0 (Registered)	Version 1.0 (Unregistered)
Daily query limit	500	25
Series per query limit	50	25
Years per query limit	20	10
Net/Percent Changes	Yes	No
Optional annual averages	Yes	No
Series description information (catalog)	Yes	No