BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) MCP Server

Access U.S. labor market data including employment, unemployment, wages, inflation (CPI), and industry statistics.

Data Available

• Employment/Unemployment - National and state-level employment statistics
• Consumer Price Index (CPI) - Inflation data by category
• Wages - Average hourly/weekly earnings by industry
• Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) - Employer-level data
• Occupational Employment - Employment and wages by occupation

Setup

1. Get a free API key at: https://data.bls.gov/registrationEngine/
2. Add to your MCP config:

{
  "bls": {
    "command": "node",
    "args": ["/path/to/bls/dist/index.js"],
    "env": {
      "BLS_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
    }
  }
}

Tools

query

Fetch BLS time series data for up to 50 series.

Parameter	Required	Description
seriesIds	Yes	Array of series IDs (max 50)
startYear	Yes	Start year (e.g., "2020")
endYear	Yes	End year (e.g., "2024")
calculations	No	Include percent changes (default: false)
annualAverage	No	Include annual averages (default: false)

Example: Get unemployment rate and CPI

seriesIds: ["LNS14000000", "CUUR0000SA0"]
startYear: "2020"
endYear: "2024"

series_guide

Show common BLS series IDs and how to construct them.

Parameter	Required	Description
category	No	"CPI", "UNEMPLOYMENT", "EMPLOYMENT", "QCEW", or "ALL"

get_cpi

Shortcut for Consumer Price Index (inflation) data.

Parameter	Required	Description
startYear	Yes	Start year
endYear	Yes	End year
items	No	"all", "food", "housing", "medical", "transport", or comma-separated

Example: Get CPI for food and housing

startYear: "2020"
endYear: "2024"
items: "food,housing"

get_unemployment

Shortcut for national unemployment rate.

Parameter	Required	Description
startYear	Yes	Start year
endYear	Yes	End year

get_employment

Shortcut for employment by major industry sector.

Parameter	Required	Description
startYear	Yes	Start year
endYear	Yes	End year
sector	No	"total", "private", "manufacturing", "retail", "healthcare", "all", etc.

Example: Get healthcare employment

startYear: "2020"
endYear: "2024"
sector: "healthcare"

Common Series IDs

Series ID	Description
LNS14000000	Unemployment Rate (Seasonally Adjusted)
LNS11000000	Civilian Labor Force
CES0000000001	Total Nonfarm Employment
CUUR0000SA0	CPI - All Urban Consumers
CUUR0000SAF1	CPI - Food
CUUR0000SAH1	CPI - Housing
CUUR0000SAM	CPI - Medical Care

Rate Limits

• Without API key: 25 requests/day, 10 years of data
• With API key: 500 requests/day, 20 years of data

Documentation

• API Documentation: https://www.bls.gov/developers/
• Series ID Finder: https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost