Connect the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to clariBI with your API key to sync monthly economic series (CPI, unemployment, wages) for the series you choose, read-only, with auto-generated dashboards next to your business data.
What is U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics?
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes free, authoritative economic data, including the Consumer Price Index, unemployment rates, and average wages.
clariBI reads the BLS through its v2 REST API using your own API key: the monthly history of the series you choose, such as CPI-U for inflation or the unemployment rate. Access is read-only, and clariBI never changes anything in your account.
How to connect U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Open Data Sources in clariBI. In clariBI, go to Data Sources → Add Data Source, find the U.S. BLS, and paste your BLS API key (free from bls.gov/developers). The key is Fernet-encrypted at rest.
- Choose series and years. Enter the data series to track (for example CUUR0000SA0 for CPI-U), set the start and end year, and clariBI reads the series read-only.
- Sync, then get dashboards. clariBI syncs the monthly values, preprocesses them, and builds an insights dashboard. Ask "How did inflation track our pricing?" and the AI engine queries the synced series alongside your data.
What you can analyze
- Monthly value per series over your chosen years
- Long-run trend and turning points by series
- Month-over-month and year-over-year change
- Comparison across the series you track
- Inflation or labor context lined up with your dates
- Cross-source: CPI and wages → pricing and payroll → margin
What gets synced
clariBI pulls the monthly history of the series you select through the BLS v2 REST API, lands it as a preprocessed dataset, and refreshes it on your schedule. Access is read-only.
For each selected series, clariBI syncs the monthly value, then builds an insights dashboard you can query, extend, or pull into reports.
clariBI only ever reads. It never changes anything in your BLS account.
Questions across your other data
Once your records are synced, the AI engine can join them to the rest of your business data. A few examples:
| Pairing | Question | How clariBI answers |
|---|---|---|
| BLS × Pricing | "Did our price increases keep up with inflation?" | Planner: read CPI-U from the BLS, align to your average selling price by month, and report the real-terms gap. |
| BLS × Hiring | "Did the tight labor market raise our payroll cost?" | Planner: read the wage series from the BLS, join to your payroll by month, and flag the periods that diverged. |
Frequently asked questions
What do I need to connect the U.S. BLS?
A free BLS API key from bls.gov/developers. You paste it into clariBI once; it is Fernet-encrypted at rest, and there is no OAuth popup or app to register.
Can clariBI change anything in the BLS?
No. The connector only reads the monthly history for the series you select. It never changes anything in your account.
Which clariBI plan includes the BLS connector?
Data-source connectors are available on the Trial, Starter, Professional, and Enterprise plans. You can connect the U.S. BLS during the free 14-day trial.