Macro Indicators API: Headline US macro indicators (CPI, unemployment, payrolls, JOLTS, PPI…) — BLS
Headline US macro indicators (CPI, unemployment, payrolls, JOLTS, PPI…) mapped to their exact, live-verified BLS series ids with units. The id-resolution layer for macro data. Free, no key.
Free — no key, no signup, rate-limited to 60 calls per minute per client.
How do you call it?
GET /v1/macro/indicators — product id
macro_indicators. Over MCP, call answerpool_get with
product_id=macro_indicators.
curl "https://answerpool.io/v1/macro/indicators?q=unemployment"
Live call: https://answerpool.io/v1/macro/indicators?q=unemployment · JSON sample: /v1/samples/macro_indicators
What does the answer look like?
A representative response, the same static sample served at /v1/samples/macro_indicators.
as_of | 2026-09-03T03:00:00Z |
|---|---|
count | 1 |
series_endpoint | /v1/macro/series?series_id=<id> |
source | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (api.bls.gov) |
disclaimer | Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, retrieved at as_of. BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after retrieval. Not i… |
refresh_after | 2026-09-18T00:00:00.000Z |
indicators
| code | series_id | name | unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| unemployment_rate | LNS14000000 | Unemployment rate (SA) | percent |
The same sample as raw JSON
{
"as_of": "2026-09-03T03:00:00Z",
"count": 1,
"indicators": [
{
"code": "unemployment_rate",
"series_id": "LNS14000000",
"name": "Unemployment rate (SA)",
"unit": "percent"
}
],
"series_endpoint": "/v1/macro/series?series_id=<id>",
"source": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (api.bls.gov)",
"disclaimer": "Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, retrieved at as_of. BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after retrieval. Not investment advice.",
"refresh_after": "2026-09-18T00:00:00.000Z"
}How fresh is it, and where does the data come from?
The fastest source behind this answer can change daily, so every response carries a refresh_after timestamp — right now it would be 2026-09-18T00:00:00.000Z. Schedule the next call on that value rather than on a guess.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics (US federal public domain) — upstream:
https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v2
Method version 0.1.0 ·
serving cache 30 days ·
every response carries a result_id you can resolve at
/v1/provenance.
When should you use it?
You need the BLS series id or unit behind a headline indicator name.
What you skip building
- BLS series-id guessing
- data-finder crawling
When should you not use it?
The actual numbers — /v1/macro/series or /v1/macro/snapshot.
Where else can you find this?
- Catalog entry (JSON, free)
- OpenAPI schema — input and output types, prices, the 402 flow
- llms.txt — every product in one plain-text document