LABSTAT OVERVIEW


The Bureau of Labor Statistics public database, called LABSTAT, provides
current and historical data for numerous surveys and press 
releases.  LABSTAT on the Internet is composed of individual databases 
(in flat file format) corresponding to each of the surveys.  These survey-
specific databases are identified by a two-character survey name 
abbreviation, as listed below.


			LIST OF DATABASES

	AP      Average Price Data
	BD	Business Employment Dynamics
	BG      Collective Bargaining-State and Local Government
	BP      Collective Bargaining-Private Sector
	CC	Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (SIC 1986-2003)
	CD      Occupational Injuries and Illness - Characteristics Data (SIC)
	CE	Employment, Hours, and Earnings-National (NAICS)
        CF	Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (1992-2002)
	CH	Nonfatal cases involving days away from work: selected characteristics 
	CI      Employment Cost Index (NAICS)
        CM	Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (NAICS)
	CS	Occupational Injuries and Illnesses - Characteristics Data 
	CU      Consumer Price Index-All Urban Consumers (Current Series) 
	CW      Consumer Price Index-Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (Current Series)
	CX	Consumer Expenditure Survey 
	EB      Employee Benefits Survey (1979 - 2006)
	EC      Employment Cost Index (SIC 1975 - 2005)
	EE      Employment, Hours, and Earnings-National (SIC)
	EI      International Price Index	
	FI	Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries
	FM	Marital and Family Labor Force Statistics
	FW	Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries
	GG	Green Goods and Services
	GP      Geographic Profile
	HC	Occupational Injuries and Illness - Characteristics Data (NAICS)
	HS      Occupational Injury and Illness Rates (based on 1972 SIC codes)
	II	Occupational Injuries and Illnesses Industry Data
	IN      International Labor Statistics
	IP	Industry Productivity and Costs
	JL	Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (SIC)
	JT	Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (NAICS)
	LA      Local Area Unemployment Statistics
	LE	Weekly and Hourly Earnings Data from the Current Population Survey
	LI      Department Store Inventory Price Index
	LN	Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey (NAICS)
        LU	Union Affiliation Data from the Current Population Survey
        ML      Mass Layoff Statistics
        MP      Major Sector Multifactor Productivity Index
	MU	Consumer Price Index-All Urban Consumers (Old Series) 
	MW	Consumer Price Index-Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (Old Series)
	NB	National Compensation Survey 
	NC	National Compensation Survey (SIC 1997-2006)
	ND	Producer Price Index Revision-Discontinued Series (NAICS)
	NL	National Longitudinal Survey
	NW	National Compensation Survey (NAICS)
	OE	Occupation Employment Statistics
	OR	Occupational Requirements Survey 
	PC      Producer Price Index Revision-Current Series
	PD      Producer Price Index Revision-Discontinued Series (SIC)
	PR      Major Sector Productivity and Costs Index
	SA      State and Area Employment, Hours, and Earnings (SIC)
	SH      Occupational Injury and Illness Rates (based on 1987 SIC codes)
	SI      Occupational Injury and Illness Rates (2002 data)
	SM	State and Area Employment, Hours, and Earnings (NAICS)
	SU	Chained CPI-All Urban Consumers
	WD	Producer Price Index Commodity - Discontinued Series
	WM	Modeled Wage Estimates
	WP      Producer Price Index - Commodities
	WS      Work Stoppage Data


			DIRECTORY STRUCTURE AND FILES


	/pub is the root folder

	/pub/time.series and its sub-directories contain the survey-specific
	historical time series.  All survey-specific directories (i.e., 
	/ap.../ws) contain:

		xx.series:      Series-level data.

		xx.data.0-n:    Observation-level data, which may be
				partitioned, depending on the size of the
				files.

		xx.map:         Survey-specific mapping files, which relate
				codes to meaningful names (i.e. xx.industry, 
				xx.area, etc...).

		xx.doc:         Documentation for individual surveys, 
				including a survey description, the table
				structure, information on data partitioning,
				and definitions of data elements.
		
		xx.contacts:     Survey-specific contact phone number listing
				for specific information on data files and 
				answers to program (i.e. CPI) related 
				questions.

        /time.series

               /compressed

                    /bin contains file decompression tools for decompressing files
                    located in /time.series/compressed/tape.format

                    /tape.format contains a set of compressed time series data files	
	
			LABSTAT DATABASE DOCUMENTATION

The LABSTAT database documentation is designed to be a reference tool for 
users of the LABSTAT system.  The documentation for each database consists 
of six sections:

Survey Description:		A brief description of the survey, and the 
				data available.

Summary Data			A brief description of available data elements
Available:			and their characteristics.

Frequency of			The frequency (i.e., monthly, quarterly,
Observation:			annually)data of a particular series are 
				published.
															
Data Characteristics:		The value of the various data series available 
				for that particular survey.
	
Updating Schedule:		The frequency new data are made available on 
				LABSTAT.

File Structure and Format:	List of files available and what they contain.

Element Definitions:		A defined list of data elements for each 
					survey.

				CONTACTS

If you have any questions or comments regarding the LABSTAT system on the
Internet, address e-mail to labstat.helpdesk@bls.gov.  

If you have any questions or comments regarding timeseries data, refer to 
the xx.contacts files located in each timeseries sub-directory.