BLS at the Olympics

When you find yourself in a 16-day marathon on the sofa shouting “U-S-A, U-S-A” at every swimmer, weightlifter, and beach volleyball player, you may not see the relationship to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But as you sprint through the pages of our website or add your likes to Twitter, you’ll begin to see how BLS has a stat for that.

Uneven bars

As we head into the gymnastics venue, we notice one of the women’s apparatus reminds us of how we measure productivity. We use two factors to compute labor productivity—output and hours worked. Over the past decade, the “bars” for output and hours worked aren’t quite parallel, but they are definitely uneven; output grew a little faster than hours, leading to rising productivity.  The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in sharp drops in both output and hours, leaving productivity to maintain its steady climb. BLS productivity staff stick the landing by providing a series of quarterly charts to let you vault into all the details.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in our interactive chart packages.

Decathlon

You may not have to run, jump, and throw, but the fastest growing occupations from our annual employment projections represent a diversity of skills. A decathlon has 10 events, but we have so much Olympic spirit we want to show you the 12 fastest growing occupations. Half of these jobs are in the healthcare field, while a couple involve alternative forms of energy. And, of course, BLS is pleased to see statisticians and data scientists and mathematical science occupations make the list. While the “World’s Greatest Athlete” is decided at the track and field venue, our Employment Projections staff goes the extra mile (1,500 meters, actually) to identify where the jobs will be in the future.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Swimming 4×100 medley relay

At the natatorium, we are here to witness one of the premier events of the Olympic Games, the swimming 4×100 medley relay. Four price indexes will each take a lap to demonstrate how they work together to provide a complete inflation picture. In the leadoff position is the Import Price Index, which rose 11.2 percent from June 2020 to June 2021—with fuel prices being one of the largest drivers. After touching the wall first, imports made way for the Producer Price Index, which rose 7.3 percent for the year ending in June. Price increases for a variety of goods drove this gain. The third leg belonged to the Export Price Index, which rose 16.8 percent over the past year, the largest gain among the quartet. Agricultural products were among the largest contributors to the increase in export prices. In the anchor position was the Consumer Price Index, freestyling with a 5.4-percent increase over the year, leading BLS to the gold medal. Among the largest increases over the past year were consumer prices for gasoline and for used cars and trucks.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Greco-Roman wrestling

We bypassed the freestyle wrestling venue to watch Greco-Roman wrestling. The difference between freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling is that freestyle wrestlers can use their legs for both defensive and offensive moves, but Greco-Roman forbids any holds below the waist. Our Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses reports on the part of the body where workplace injuries occur, and, just like Greco-Roman, many of those occur above the waist.

Among workplace injuries that resulted in time away from work, nearly two out of three affected parts of the body above the waist, with the greatest number related to the upper extremities (shoulder, arm, hand, and wrist).

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Among the most prevalent injuries to the upper extremities were sprains, strains, punctures, cuts, and burns.

Beach volleyball

This popular sport takes place out on the sandy beaches, with two athletes on each side battling for the gold. Let’s look at some popular beach volleyball spots around the United States and pair them with the unemployment rates by state and metropolitan area. Florida serves up the lowest unemployment rate among the four states we have selected, at 5.7 percent (not seasonally adjusted) in June. Miami had an unemployment rate of 6.2 percent in June—the lowest among the metro areas chosen. Receiving the serve, Hawaii’s rate stood at a 7.9 percent. They bumped it to their teammate Illinois, which also had a rate of 7.9 percent. California reached a little higher, with a rate of 8.0 percent.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

BLS heads to Tokyo

Just as the United States exports its athletes to Japan for the Olympic Games, the two countries are regular trading partners. The BLS International Price Program provides a monthly look at inflation for U.S. imports and exports. Among the data available are price changes based on where the imports come from and where the exports go. And yes, this includes data for Japan. While we’ve seen increases in many inflation measures in recent months, the data show more modest increases in prices of U.S. imports from Japan. Not so for U.S. exports to Japan, which increased 15.8 percent from June 2020 to June 2021. No, this does not represent the price of exporting our athletes; it mostly relates to sharp increases in the price of agricultural exports.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Whether it’s weightlifting or dressage or the new sports climbing activities, BLS is cheering on the U.S. Olympians and Paralympians in Japan. At the same time, we’ll still be keeping to our data release schedule. Find out what’s available from BLS during August and September and be sure to follow BLS on Twitter.