The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics. The BLS is an independent national statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data to the American public, the U.S. Congress, other Federal agencies, State and local governments, business, and labor. The BLS also serves as a statistical resource to the Department of Labor.
BLS data must satisfy a number of criteria, including relevance to current social and economic issues, timeliness in reflecting today's rapidly changing economic conditions, accuracy and consistently high statistical quality, and impartiality in both subject matter and presentation.
With even the best of intentions the BLS can still be subjective. This is shown by when certain people began to count in terms of demographics. African Americans began to count in 1972. This was the same time when Congress enacted the Equal Employment Act of 1972, which brought to light various examples of discrimination. Hispanics began to count in the 1980 when the Census Bureau began to revise their own data and demographics. Asian Americans followed shortly thereafter. Coincidentally, both minority groups started to make their presence known in the voting booths as well during this time.