Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey

The Current Population Survey, a monthly household survey, conducted by the Bureau of the Census for BLS, provides a comprehensive body of information on the employment and unemployment experience of the Nation's population, classified by age, sex, race, and a variety of other characteristics.

Current news releases

• Employment Situation of Vietnam-Era Veterans
• Worker Displacement During the Early 1990s
• Earnings of Workers and Their Families
• Work Experience of the Population - Annual
• HS Graduates Enrolled in Colleges
• Summer Youth Labor Force
• E & E Characteristics of Families

Data available

• Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and over by age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, family relationship, and Vietnam-era veteran status, region, State, and selected areas.
• Employed persons by occupation, industry, class of worker, hours of work, full- or part-time status, and reasons for working part time.
• Employed multiple jobholders by occupation, industry, numbers of jobs held, and full- or part-time status of multiple jobs.
• Unemployed persons by occupation, industry, class of worker of last job, duration of unemployment, reason for unemployment, and methods used to find employment.
• Discouraged workers and other persons not in the labor force.
• Special topics such as the labor force status of particular subgroups of the population (e g., women maintaining families, working women with children, displaced workers, and disabled veterans). Data are also available on work experience, occupational mobility, job tenure, educational attainment, and school enrollment of workers.
• Information on annual, weekly, and hourly earnings by detailed demographic group and full- and part-time employment status, including data on the earnings of individual workers in relation to the earnings and employment status of other members of the family.

Coverage

• Civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and older.

Source of data

• Current Population Survey, a sample of 60,000 households; data are collected by personal and telephone interviews.

Reference period

• Monthly, calendar week (Sunday through Saturday) which includes the 12th day of the month.

Forms of publication

• Monthly news releaseùThe Employment Situationùabout 3 weeks after reference period. Electronic access available.
• Monthly periodicalùEmployment and Earningsù5 weeks after reference period.
• Quarterly news releaseùUsual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers.
• Quarterly reportsùEmployment in Perspective: Minority Workers and Employment in Perspective: Women in the Labor Force.
• Analytical studies and research summaries published in Monthly Labor Review.
• BLS bulletins and reports.
• Historical data in the Handbook of Labor Statistics and in Labor Force Statistics Derived from the Current Population Survey.
• Annual news releases on topics of special interest.
• Data files on tape, diskette, and CD-ROMùcurrent and historical data, in original and seasonally adjusted form plus annual averages for most of the monthly series. Special data on the labor force and other socioeconomic variables from the CPS individual record (micro) tapes.

Uses

• Economic indicators.
• Most comprehensive measure of national employment and unemployment.
• Primary source of data on employment status and characteristics of the labor force, emerging trends, and changes.
• Measure of potential labor supply.
• Determining factors affecting changes in labor force participation of different population groups.
• Aid in developing more adequate data base for labor force planning.
• Evaluation of wage rates and earnings trends for specific demographic groups.

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