www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm
DOL Seal - Link to DOL Home Page US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics Photos representing the workforce - Digital Im agery copyright 2001 PhotoDisc, Inc.
When workers are unemployed, they, their families and the country as a wh ole lose. Workers and their families lose wages, and the country loses t he goods or services which could have been produced. In addition, the pu rchasing power of these workers is lost, which can lead to unemployment for yet other workers. To know about unemployment--the extent and nature of the problem--require s information. Are they the sole support of their families, or do other family members have jobs ? Are they more concentrated in one area of the country than another? Af ter these statistics are obtained, they have to be interpreted properly so they can be used--together with other economic data--by policymakers in making decisions as to whether measures should be taken to influence the future course of the economy or to aid those affected by joblessness . Early each month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the US Depart ment of Labor announces the total number of employed and unemployed pers ons in the United States for the previous month, along with many charact eristics of such persons. These figures, particularly the unemployment r ate--which tells you the percent of the labor force that is unemployed-- receive wide coverage in the press, on radio, and on television. Some people think that to get these figures on unemployment the Governmen t uses the number of persons filing claims for unemployment insurance (U I) benefits under State or Federal Government programs. But some people are still jobless when their benefits run out, and many more are not eli gible at all or delay or never apply for benefits. So, quite clearly, UI information cannot be used as a source for complete information on the number of unemployed. Other people think that the Government counts every unemployed person eac h month. To do this, every home in the country would have to be contacte d--just as in the population census every 10 years. This procedure would cost way too much and take far too long. Besides, people would soon gro w tired of having a census taker come to their homes every month, year a fter year, to ask about job-related activities. Because unemployment insurance records relate only to persons who have ap plied for such benefits, and since it is impractical to actually count e very unemployed person each month, the Government conducts a monthly sam ple survey called the Current Population Survey (CPS) to measure the ext ent of unemployment in the country. The CPS has been conducted in the Un ited States every month since 1940 when it began as a Work Projects Admi nistration project. It has been expanded and modified several times sinc e then. As explained later, the CPS estimates, beginning in 1994, reflec t the results of a major redesign of the survey. There are about 60,000 households in the sample for this survey. The samp le is selected so as to be representative of the entire population of th e United States. In order to select the sample, first, the 3,141 countie s and county-equivalent cities in the country are grouped into 1,973 geo graphic areas. The Bureau of the Census then designs and selects a sampl e consisting of 754 of these geographic areas to represent each State an d the District of Columbia. The sample is a State-based design and refle cts urban and rural areas, different types of industrial and farming are as, and the major geographic divisions of each State. Each of the 754 areas in the sample is subdivided into enumeration distri cts of about 300 households. The enumeration districts, in turn, are div ided into smaller clusters of about four dwelling units each, through th e use of address lists, detailed maps, and other sources. Then, the clus ters to be surveyed are chosen statistically, and the households in thes e clusters are interviewed. Every month, one-fourth of the households in the sample are changed, so t hat no household is interviewed more than 4 consecutive months. This pra ctice avoids placing too heavy a burden on the households selected for t he sample. After a household is interviewed for 4 consecutive months, it leaves the sample for 8 months and then is again interviewed for the sa me 4 calendar months a year later, before leaving the sample for good. T his procedure results in approximately 75 percent of the sample remainin g the same from month to month and 50 percent from year to year. Each month, 1,500 highly trained and experienced Census Bureau employees interview persons in the 60,000 sample households for information on the labor force activities (jobholding and jobseeking) or non-labor force s tatus of the members of these households during the week that includes t he 12th of the month (the reference week). This information, relating to all household members 16 years of age and over, is entered by the inter viewers into laptop computers; at the end of each day's interviewing, th e data collected are transmitted to the Census Bureau's central computer in Washington, DC In addition, a portion of the sample is interviewed by phone through two central data collection facilities. Then, the total numbers are "weighted," or adj usted to independent population estimates (based on updated decennial ce nsus results). The weighting takes into account the age, sex, race, Hisp anic origin, and State of residence of the population, so that these cha racteristics are reflected in the proper proportions in the final estima tes. A sample is not a total count and the survey may not produce the same res ults that would be obtained from interviewing the entire population. But the chances are 90 out of 100 that the monthly estimate of unemployment from the sample is within about 230,000 of the figure obtainable from a total census. Since monthly unemployment totals have ranged between abo ut 5 and 8 million in recent years, the possible error resulting from sa mpling is not large enough to distort the total unemployment picture. Because these interviews are the basic source of data for total unemploym ent, information must be factual and correct. Respondents are never aske d specifically if they are unemployed, nor are they given an opportunity to decide their own labor force status. Unless they already know how th e Government defines unemployment, many of them may not be sure of their actual classification when the interview is completed. Similarly, interviewers do not decide the respondents' labor force classi fication. They simply ask the questions in the prescribed way and record the answers. Individuals are then classified as employed or unemployed by the computer based on the information collected and the definitions p rogrammed into the computer. All interviews must follow the same procedures to obtain comparable resul ts. Because of the crucial role interviewers have in the household surve y, a great amount of time and effort is spent maintaining the quality of their work. Interviewers are given intensive training, including classr oom lectures, discussion, practice, observation, home-study materials, a nd on-the-job training. At least once a year, they convene for day-long training and review sessions, and, also at least once a year, they are a ccompanied by a supervisor during a full day of interviewing to determin e how well they carry out their assignments. A selected number of households are reinterviewed each month to determine whether the information obtained in the first interview was correct. Th e information gained from these reinterviews is used to improve the enti re training program. What are the basic concepts of employment and unemployment? The basic concepts involved in identifying the employed and unemployed ar e quite simple: * People with jobs are employed. The survey is designed so that each person age 16 and over who is not in an institution such as a prison or mental hospital or on active duty in the Armed Forces is counted and classified in only one group. The sum of the employed and the unemployed constitutes the civilian labo...
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