get_national_ces: Get National Current Employment Statistics (CES) Data from...

In BLSloadR: Download Time Series Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Get National Current Employment Statistics (CES) Data from BLS

Description

This function downloads and processes national Current Employment Statistics (CES) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). It retrieves multiple related datasets and joins them together to create a comprehensive employment statistics dataset with industry classifications, data types, and time period information.

Usage

get_national_ces(
  dataset_filter = "all_data",
  monthly_only = TRUE,
  simplify_table = TRUE,
  suppress_warnings = TRUE,
  return_diagnostics = FALSE,
  cache = check_bls_cache_env()
)

Arguments

dataset_filter	Character string specifying which dataset to download. Options include: "all_data" (default) - Complete dataset with all series "current_seasonally_adjusted" - Only seasonally adjusted all-employee series "real_earnings_all_employees" - Real earnings data for all employees "real_earnings_production" - Real earnings data for production employees
monthly_only	Logical. If TRUE (default), excludes annual averages (period "M13") and returns only monthly data. If FALSE, includes all periods including annual averages.
simplify_table	Logical. If TRUE (default), removes several metadata columns (series_title, begin_year, begin_period, end_year, end_period, naics_code, publishing_status, display_level, selectable, sort_sequence) and adds a formatted date column. If FALSE, returns the full dataset with all available columns.
suppress_warnings	Logical. If TRUE (default), suppresses download warnings and diagnostics. If FALSE, displays warning output and diagnostic information.
return_diagnostics	Logical. If TRUE, returns a bls_data_collection object with full diagnostics. If FALSE (default), returns just the data table.
cache	Logical. Uses USE_BLS_CACHE environment variable, or defaults to FALSE. If TRUE, will download a cached file from BLS server and update cache if BLS server indicates an updated file.

Details

The function can download one of four specialized national CES datasets based on the dataset_filter parameter:

• all_data: Complete dataset (ce.data.0.AllCESSeries) - contains entire history of all series currently published by the CES program

• current_seasonally_adjusted: (ce.data.01a.CurrentSeasAE) - contains every seasonally adjusted all employee series and complete history

• real_earnings_all_employees: (ce.data.02b.AllRealEarningsAE) - contains real earnings data (1982-84 dollars) for all employees

• real_earnings_production: (ce.data.03c.AllRealEarningsPE) - contains real earnings data (1982-84 dollars) for production/nonsupervisory employees

Additional metadata files are always downloaded and joined:

• ce.series - Series metadata

• ce.industry - Industry classifications

• ce.datatype - Data type definitions

• ce.period - Time period definitions

• ce.supersector - Supersector classifications

These datasets are joined together to provide context and labels for the employment statistics. The function uses the enhanced 'download_bls_files()' helper function for robust downloads with diagnostic reporting.

Performance Note: Using specialized datasets (other than "all_data") can significantly reduce download time and file size while still providing comprehensive employment statistics.

Value

By default, returns a data.table with CES data. If return_diagnostics = TRUE, returns a bls_data_collection object containing data and comprehensive diagnostics.

Note

This function requires the following packages: dplyr, data.table, httr, and lubridate (for date formatting when simplify_table=TRUE). The 'fread_bls()' and 'create_bls_object()' helper functions must be available in your environment.

See Also

Please visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics at https://www.bls.gov/ces/ for more information about CES data

Examples

## Not run: 
# Get complete monthly CES data with simplified table structure (default)
ces_monthly <- get_national_ces()

# Get only seasonally adjusted data (faster download)
ces_seasonal <- get_national_ces(dataset_filter = "current_seasonally_adjusted")

# Get real earnings data for all employees
ces_real_earnings <- get_national_ces(dataset_filter = "real_earnings_all_employees")

# Get all data including annual averages with full metadata
ces_full <- get_national_ces(dataset_filter = "all_data",
                             monthly_only = FALSE, simplify_table = FALSE)

# Get data with warnings and diagnostic information displayed
ces_with_warnings <- get_national_ces(suppress_warnings = FALSE)

# Get full diagnostic object if needed
data_with_diagnostics <- get_national_ces(return_diagnostics = TRUE)
print_bls_warnings(data_with_diagnostics)

## End(Not run)

BLSloadR documentation built on April 23, 2026, 9:07 a.m.