BLS Internet site usage over the years

In 1995, the first year of its operation, the BLS Web site averaged 70,000 "hits", or document views, per month; in 2008, the monthly average for the entire BLS Internet site was 39 million hits.

[Chart data—TXT]

The pattern of use varies throughout the year and has remained consistent for many years. The heaviest usage is generally in the fall and spring, corresponding with the academic year. Usage typically declines during the summer. In addition, spikes in usage often coincide with the release of new data, such as the release of employment projection data every other November.

To learn more, see "BLS at 125: using historic principles to track the 21st-century economy" (PDF), by William J. Wiatrowski, Monthly Labor Review, June 2009. Note that the Internet site usage statistics shown here pertain to the entire BLS Internet site (www.bls.gov, ftp.bls.gov, and data.bls.gov) for February 1998 forward and to just HTML pages for the earlier period.