The Mine Safety and Health Administration publishes three linked datasets — mine listings, accident/injury records, and violation citations going back to 1983. Here is the significant-and-substantial designation, the Pattern of Violations enforcement mechanism, the Upper Big Branch disaster context, and how to join violations to accidents by Mine ID.
Writing · topic · 35 articles
Labor and workplace
Wages, unions, workplace safety, and pensions: DOL, OSHA, NLRB, MSHA, and PBGC data.
The National Labor Relations Board maintains a public case management system tracking every unfair labor practice charge filed under the NLRA — 20,000–25,000 annually. Here is the case lifecycle, data structure, how to query the NLRB API, and what the data reveals about the 2022–2024 Starbucks and Amazon organizing surge.
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey tracks monthly job openings, hires, quits, layoffs, and other separations by industry and region. Here is the data structure, BLS API access, and what JOLTS reveals about the Great Resignation, the Fed's rate-hike calculus, and the labor market signals that precede recessions.
Federal data · Economy and demographics · Labor and workplace
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation publishes data on every terminated private-sector defined-benefit pension plan it has trusteed since 1975 — over 5,000 plans covering millions of workers. The data reveals which industries have abandoned their pension obligations, how much the PBGC paid out vs. what was promised, and which plan sponsors walked away from the largest underfunded obligations.
A guide to tracing the employment-based immigration pipeline through federal data — joining the Department of Labor’s foreign-labor certifications, the USCIS record of H-1B petitions, and the BLS wage statistics that set the prevailing-wage floor, so the path by which a US employer hires a foreign worker comes together in one view.
Justice and immigration · Labor and workplace · Engineering and infrastructure
A single workplace’s federal safety history is scattered across four OSHA datasets — the inspections, the citations they generate, the severe-injury reports employers must file, and the annual Form 300A summaries. This guide assembles them into one establishment-level view, keyed by inspection number and employer, and asks whether enforcement actually lowers injury rates afterward.
Labor and workplace · Federal data · Engineering and infrastructure
The Department of Labor’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification runs the labor side of employment-based immigration — and publishes every case as quarterly disclosure data. A guide to ~298,000 visa-labor records spanning the H-1B LCA, PERM, and the seasonal H-2A and H-2B programs, the prevailing-wage attestation at their core, and how they join to USCIS and BLS.
Labor and workplace · Justice and immigration · Federal data
When a company with a traditional pension goes bankrupt and its plan is underfunded, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation steps in as trustee and pays the retirees — and records the dead plan in a federal registry. This guide covers the ~5,170 trusteed plans, the ERISA insurance frame, the single- and multiemployer programs, the benefit guarantee cap, the steel-airlines-auto collapse the data documents, the Form 5500 join, and a worked Python walkthrough.
Every citation and order a federal inspector writes at a US mine — coal, metal, and nonmetal — lands in one Department of Labor record, roughly 3.07 million violations keyed by mine ID and citation number. A field-level guide to the Mine Act, the S&S and unwarrantable-failure tiers, the pattern-of-violations process, penalty assessment and contest, the join to the mines and accidents data, and a Python workflow that ranks operators by assessed penalty and S&S rate.
Form 5500 is the annual report every private-sector retirement and welfare plan must file under ERISA — the federal government’s primary public window into a private benefit system holding trillions of dollars. This guide covers the joint DOL, IRS, and PBGC filing, the EFAST2 system, plan types and schedules, the 401(k)-fee and pension-funding data, and a Python workflow over the public datasets.
On January 1, 2015 OSHA began requiring employers to report every work-related amputation, eye loss, and in-patient hospitalization within 24 hours — creating, for the first time, a near-real-time federal stream of individual severe-injury events. This is a field-level guide to the ~103,000-report dataset: the 29 CFR 1904.39 rule, the employer-name-and-NAICS columns, the inspection-versus-Rapid-Response-Investigation split, the State Plan coverage gap, and a Python workflow over OSHA’s downloadable file.
OSHA publishes its full inspection and citation database — every workplace inspection since 1972, every violation found, every penalty assessed, and whether the employer contested the citation. The database covers 2.5M+ inspections across all industries. Here is what it contains, how to query it, and what patterns emerge from 50 years of enforcement data.
The Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division publishes a public enforcement database covering every concluded investigation — employer name, violation type, back wages owed, employees affected, and civil money penalties. The database covers FLSA minimum wage/overtime, H-2A/H-2B temporary workers, FMLA, and Davis-Bacon prevailing wage violations. Here is the structure, how to query it, and what the data reveals about wage theft patterns across industries.
The EEOC publishes annual charge statistics and, since 2017, charge-level data under FOIA. The aggregate data shows which industries generate the most race, sex, disability, and age discrimination charges — and which large employers appear repeatedly in the conciliation record.
Federal data · Justice and immigration · Labor and workplace
How to pull, clean, and analyze NLRB union election records — RC and RD cases, the 2021–2024 organizing surge, the 100k export cap workaround, industry breakdowns, and cross-referencing with OSHA and CFPB data.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey is the most comprehensive federal source of wage data by occupation — covering 830 detailed occupations across every industry and geographic area in the United States, with employment counts and full wage distributions for 1.1 million surveyed establishments.
Economy and demographics · Labor and workplace · Federal data
The National Labor Relations Board maintains two parallel federal databases covering union organizing activity and labor law enforcement in the United States private sector — a representation election database covering every NLRB-supervised election since the 1930s, and an Unfair Labor Practice case database tracking charges, complaints, and Board orders against employers and unions.
The OSHA 300A Summary data collects annual establishment-level injury and illness totals from 750,000 employers — enabling calculation of Total Recordable Case rates, Days Away Restricted or Transferred rates, and industry-specific benchmarks for every major employer in the United States.
The OSHA enforcement database contains every citation issued after a workplace inspection — violation type, penalty amount, standard violated, and abatement status — covering 200,000+ annual citations across all industries.
The Department of Labor Office of Foreign Labor Certification publishes every H-1B Labor Condition Application, H-2A agricultural temporary worker certification, and H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker certification — the employer wage attestations behind the US guest-worker visa system.
Labor and workplace · Justice and immigration · Federal data
DOL ETA weekly UI claims (Thursday 8:30am): initial claims SA (ICSA) + continuing claims SA (CCSA/CC4WSA). 53 jurisdictions: 50 states + DC + PR + VI. COVID peak: 6.9M initial claims week of April 4 2020 (prior record 695k, Oct 1982); continuing claims peak 24.9M May 2020. CARES Act PUA extended to gig/self-employed. Regular state UI: typically 26 weeks; federal-state Extended Benefits at 6.5%/8% insured unemployment rate trigger. State benefit max: Mississippi $235/wk to Massachusetts $1,050/wk. Recipiency rate ~27% of unemployed in normal times. FRED series: ICSA, ICNSA, CCSA, CC4WSA at fred.stlouisfed.org; DOL ETA-539/5159 forms; DOL bulk at oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/claims.asp. BLS UI-vs-CPS distinction: UI = administrative benefit recipients vs. CPS = household survey unemployed. Python FRED API ICSA 2019-present + COVID peak detection + 52-week rolling average.
Labor and workplace · Economy and demographics · Federal data
Form 5500 Annual Return/Report: ~217,000 filings/year for all ERISA plans (DB, DC, health/welfare with 100+ participants). $30T+ plan assets. EFAST2 at efast.dol.gov -- public record. Plan types: DB (defined benefit, 27M->13M participants since 1985, employer bears investment risk); DC (401k: $23k employee deferral 2024, $69k total, 5% TSP match, target-date funds); 403(b); ESOPs. Schedule architecture: A (insurance contracts), C (service provider fees -- 408(b)(2) indirect compensation, basis for ERISA fee litigation: Boeing/Intel/MIT/Cornell all settled), G (prohibited transactions), H (large plan financials: balance sheet, income statement), R (retirement/actuarial), SB (Schedule SB: funding target, min required contribution, AFTAP triggers at 60%/80%). PBGC insurance: $80k/yr guarantee; $96/participant flat premium + $52/$1k variable (2024); ARP 2021: $86B SPAP for troubled multiemployer plans (Central States $73B). Large plan audit: 100-participant threshold; SAS 136; 2015 OIG found 39% deficient. Bulk data: dol.gov/agencies/ebsa research files. Python EFAST2 Schedule H + C analysis: top-50 401k plans by assets + fee rates in basis points by asset tier.
Social Security OASDI (Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) pays ~$1.4T annually to ~70M beneficiaries. Three components: OASI (~58M, ~$1.2T), DI (~8.8M, ~$160B), SSI (~7.5M, ~$65B, means-tested). Trust funds: OASI ~$2.75T invested in special-issue Treasuries; 2034 projected OASI depletion (77% payable). FICA tax: 6.2%+6.2% on wages up to $168,600 (2024). Benefit formula: AIME computed from 35 highest-earning years indexed to AWI; PIA = 90% of AIME to first bend point + 32% between bend points + 15% above second. FRA: 67 (born 1960+); early at 62 with ~30% reduction; DRCs +8%/year to 70. 2024 bend points: $1,174/$7,078. SSA data: data.ssa.gov — Monthly Statistical Snapshot, Annual Statistical Supplement (Table 5.A state-level beneficiaries, Table 4.B DI allowance rates, Table 6.C SSI by state), state/county OASDI CSV. FRED series: SSASSHDI, SSARECEIPTSDISABILITY. Disability sequential evaluation: SGA → severe impairment → Blue Book listings → RFC → past relevant work → vocational grids. ALJ hearing backlog ~1M. WEP/GPO eliminated January 2025 (Social Security Fairness Act) for 3.2M workers. Here is trust fund mechanics, AIME/PIA formula, DI determination process, state data API, and a Python analysis of retired-worker benefit penetration rates by state.
Economy and demographics · Labor and workplace · Federal data
NLRB Union Elections and Unfair Labor Practice Data: The Federal Database Behind US Labor Organizing
NLRB processes ~2,500-3,000 election cases and ~15,000-20,000 ULP charges annually. RC (union-initiated), RM (employer), RD (decertification) petition types; 25-30% showing of interest required; secret ballot; majority of valid votes cast to win. 2014 "Ambush Election" rule reduced pre-election period to ~23 days; 2023 Biden rule restoration. Union win rate ~65-70% in recent years. Amazon LDJ5 Staten Island April 2022: 2,654-2,131 first US Amazon union win; Starbucks Workers United 400+ stores. ULP charges: Section 8(a)(1) interference, 8(a)(3) anti-union discrimination, 8(a)(5) refusal to bargain; ALJ hearing → NLRB Board → circuit court. Gissel bargaining orders; McLaren Macomb (2023) confidentiality clauses unlawful. BLS 2023: 10.0% union density, 6.0% private, 33.1% public. NLRB election results CSV and case search at nlrb.gov. Here is petition types, 2014 rule history, Amazon/Starbucks campaigns, ULP mechanics, Gissel orders, and a Python election win rate analysis by industry.
DOL publishes initial and continuing unemployment insurance claims every Thursday at 8:30 AM ET, covering 53 state programs. Initial claims peaked at 6.87 million for the week ending March 28, 2020 — dwarfing the prior record of 695,000 (1982). Pre-COVID lows of ~200,000 (2018–2019) were the lowest since 1969. The 4-week moving average smooths weather and auto-plant retooling noise. FRED series ICSA, ICNSA, and CC4WSA provide full history back to 1967.
Labor and workplace · Economy and demographics · Federal data
The Census LEHD program links UI wage records for 95%+ of private workers to employer and household records, producing the Quarterly Workforce Indicators (employment/payroll/hires/separations by county × industry × age × sex × education), LODES origin-destination commuting matrices (block-to-block home-work pairs), job-to-job flow statistics (7–10% earnings premium from voluntary job switching), and business dynamics data. Here is how LEHD differs from QCEW/CES/ACS, the COVID remote-work reshaping of OD commute flows, the great resignation mobility spike, OnTheMap and LEHD Explorer tools, and a Python Census QWI API script analyzing young construction worker employment by county.
Economy and demographics · Labor and workplace · Federal data
BLS Occupational Employment Data: Wages, Job Counts, and 10-Year Projections for Every US Occupation
The BLS OEWS program publishes wages and employment counts for 830 occupations across 590+ geographies from a 1.1M establishment semiannual survey pooled over 3 years into ~3.3M observations. Here is the data structure (TOT_EMP, hourly/annual wage percentiles 10th–90th, location quotient, entry/experienced wage fields), the Standard Occupational Classification (23 major groups / 459 broad / 867 detailed occupations), top-paying occupations (surgeons $250k+, anesthesiologists, airline pilots), Employment Projections 2022–2032 (fastest-growing: home health aides +924k, NPs, solar installers; fastest-declining: word processors, cashiers), the Occupational Outlook Handbook, O*NET skills crosswalk, wage inequality analysis (90/10 percentile ratio), H-1B prevailing wage connection, and a Python script to analyze healthcare occupation wages from the national OEWS ZIP.
Economy and demographics · Labor and workplace · Federal data
The BLS releases two surveys on “Jobs Friday” (first Friday of each month): the Establishment Survey (580,000 worksites, source of the nonfarm payroll headline) and the Household Survey (60,000 households, source of the unemployment rate). Here is why the two surveys often diverge, how the net birth/death model handles new businesses, the three-tier revision cycle including the annual benchmark (the January 2024 benchmark removed 818,000 jobs from the prior year), X-13ARIMA-SEATS seasonal adjustment, industry-level dynamics (healthcare adding jobs through every recession, the COVID −20.5M single-month collapse), the 8:30 AM release market impact, and a Python BLS API script to download total nonfarm payroll and plot recession bars.
Economy and demographics · Labor and workplace · Federal data
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses surveys ~230,000 establishments annually to produce the only national count of workplace injuries and illnesses. Here is the Total Recordable Incidence Rate formula, OSHA recordkeeping requirements (Form 300 Log, 300A Summary, 301 Incident Report), the case-and-demographic microdata for individual injury characteristics, the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries as the companion fatal census (~5,500/year, construction’s fatal four), the musculoskeletal disorder supplement, the pervasive underreporting problem (academic research shows 40–69% capture rate), and a Python BLS API script to compare TRIR across construction, manufacturing, and healthcare.
Economy and demographics · Labor and workplace · Federal data
The DOL Wage and Hour Division enforces the FLSA, Davis-Bacon Act, Service Contract Act, FMLA, and child labor laws through ~1,000 investigators nationwide — recovering $200–300M in back wages for 200,000–300,000 workers annually. Here is the WHISARD public enforcement database schema, the FLSA exempt vs. non-exempt classification battle, worker misclassification under the 2024 economic reality rule, H-2A agricultural wage violations, Davis-Bacon prevailing wage enforcement, the Asplundh $95M settlement, FLSA criminal prosecution under 216(a), and a Python sector-level penalty analysis by NAICS code.
The BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey measures the monthly flow of workers into and out of US employment — job openings, hires, quits, and layoffs across 21,000 establishments. Here is the four core metrics, how the quit rate peaked at 3.0% in April 2022 signaling the hottest labor market in decades, the Beveridge Curve rightward shift that revealed labor market frictions, labor hoarding dynamics in 2023, how JOLTS compares to Indeed and LinkedIn alternative measures, FRED series IDs (JTSJOL, JTSHIL, JTSQUL, JTSLAL, JTSQUR), and a Python fredapi Beveridge Curve plot.
Federal data · Economy and demographics · Labor and workplace
OSHA publishes every workplace inspection, citation, and penalty going back to 1972 — covering ~130M US workers in 10M workplaces. Here is the inspection types (unprogrammed complaint-driven vs. programmed NEP vs. fatality follow-up), the citation taxonomy (Willful $156K max through De Minimis), top-cited 29 CFR standards (fall protection chronically #1), the Imperial Sugar explosion, Amazon injury rate controversy, State Plan boundary, and a Python sector-level penalty analysis.
The H-2A program (cap-free agricultural) and H-2B program (66,000-cap non-agricultural) bring hundreds of thousands of temporary workers to the US annually. DOL OFLC publishes quarterly disclosure files with employer, job title, wages, worksites, and worker counts. Here is the data structure, how H-2A grew from 60,000 to 370,000+ certifications between 2012 and 2023, and how to compare offered wages against adverse effect wage rates.
Federal data · Labor and workplace · Justice and immigration
Every large ERISA plan files Form 5500 annually — covering 750,000+ plans with $10T+ in assets. Schedule C reveals service provider fees that drive 401(k) litigation; Schedule SB tracks pension funding ratios that determine minimum required contributions. Here is the schema, EFAST2 access, and how to compute average expense ratios by plan size.
The DOL Labor Condition Application dataset and USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub together reveal the true shape of the skilled-worker visa program: IT staffing companies dominate approvals, India-born workers hold 70%+ of visas, and prevailing wage Level I filings expose systematic wage suppression. Here is the data structure and how to compute employer-level wage ratios.
Federal data · Justice and immigration · Labor and workplace
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