Current Population Survey Design and Methodology - Census Bureau
Current Population Survey Design and Methodology - Census Bureau
Current Population Survey Design and Methodology - Census Bureau
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The class-of-worker question also includes separate<br />
response categories for ‘‘private for-profit company’’ <strong>and</strong><br />
‘‘nonprofit organization’’ to further classify private wage<br />
<strong>and</strong> salary workers. The self-employed are those who<br />
work for profit or fees in their own businesses, professions,<br />
trades, or farms. Only the unincorporated selfemployed<br />
are included in the self-employed category since<br />
those whose businesses are incorporated technically are<br />
wage <strong>and</strong> salary workers because they are paid employees<br />
of a corporation. Unpaid family workers are individuals<br />
working without pay for 15 hours a week or more on a<br />
farm or in a business operated by a member of the household<br />
to whom they are related by birth, marriage, or adoption.<br />
Occupation, industry, <strong>and</strong> class-of-worker on second<br />
job. The occupation, industry, <strong>and</strong> class-of-worker information<br />
for individuals’ second jobs is collected in order to<br />
obtain a more accurate measure of multiple jobholders, to<br />
obtain more detailed information about their employment<br />
characteristics, <strong>and</strong> to provide information necessary for<br />
comparing estimates of number of employees in the CPS<br />
<strong>and</strong> in BLS’s establishment survey (the <strong>Current</strong> Employment<br />
Statistics; for an explanation of this survey see BLS<br />
H<strong>and</strong>book of Methods at ). For the majority of multiple jobholders,<br />
occupation, industry, <strong>and</strong> class-of-worker data for their<br />
second jobs are collected only from one-fourth of the<br />
sample—those in their fourth or eighth monthly interview.<br />
However, for those classified as ‘‘self-employed unincorporated’’<br />
on their main jobs, class-of-worker of the second<br />
job is collected each month. This is done because, according<br />
to the official definition, individuals who are ‘‘selfemployed<br />
unincorporated’’ on both of their jobs are not<br />
considered multiple jobholders.<br />
The questions used to determine whether an individual<br />
is employed or not, along with the questions an<br />
employed person typically will receive, are presented in<br />
Figure 5–1 at the end of this chapter.<br />
Earnings. Information on what people earn at their main<br />
job is collected only for those who are receiving their<br />
fourth or eighth monthly interviews. This means that earnings<br />
questions are asked of only one-fourth of the survey<br />
respondents each month. Respondents are asked to report<br />
their usual earnings before taxes <strong>and</strong> other deductions<br />
<strong>and</strong> to include any overtime pay, commissions, or tips<br />
usually received. The term ‘‘usual’’ means as perceived by<br />
the respondent. If the respondent asks for a definition of<br />
usual, interviewers are instructed to define the term as<br />
more than half the weeks worked during the past 4 or 5<br />
months. Respondents may report earnings in the time<br />
period they prefer—for example, hourly, weekly, biweekly,<br />
monthly, or annually. (Allowing respondents to report in a<br />
periodicity with which they were most comfortable was a<br />
feature added in the 1994 redesign.) Based on additional<br />
information collected during the interview, earnings<br />
reported on a basis other than weekly are converted to a<br />
weekly amount in later processing. Data are collected for<br />
wage <strong>and</strong> salary workers, <strong>and</strong> for self-employed people<br />
whose businesses are incorporated; earnings data are not<br />
collected for self-employed people whose businesses are<br />
unincorporated. (Earnings data are not edited <strong>and</strong> are not<br />
released to the public for the ‘‘self-employed incorporated.’’)<br />
These earnings data are used to construct estimates<br />
of the distribution of usual weekly earnings <strong>and</strong><br />
median earnings. Individuals who do not report their earnings<br />
on an hourly basis are asked if they are, in fact, paid<br />
at an hourly rate <strong>and</strong> if so, what the hourly rate is. The<br />
earnings of those who reported hourly <strong>and</strong> those who are<br />
paid at an hourly rate is used to analyze the characteristics<br />
of hourly workers, for example, those who are paid<br />
the minimum wage.<br />
Unemployed people. All people who were not employed<br />
during the reference week but were available for work<br />
(excluding temporary illness) <strong>and</strong> had made specific<br />
efforts to find employment some time during the 4-week<br />
period ending with the reference week are classified as<br />
unemployed. Individuals who were waiting to be recalled<br />
to a job from which they had been laid off need not have<br />
been looking for work to be classified as unemployed.<br />
People waiting to start a new job must have actively<br />
looked for a job within the last 4 weeks in order to be<br />
counted as unemployed. Otherwise, they are classified as<br />
not in the labor force.<br />
As the definition indicates, there are two ways people may<br />
be classified as unemployed. They are either looking for<br />
work (job seekers) or they have been temporarily separated<br />
from a job (people on layoff). Job seekers must have<br />
engaged in an active job search during the above mentioned<br />
4-week period in order to be classified as unemployed.<br />
(Active methods are defined as job search methods<br />
that have the potential to result in a job offer without<br />
any further action on the part of the job seeker.) Examples<br />
of active job search methods include going to an employer<br />
directly or to a public or private employment agency, seeking<br />
assistance from friends or relatives, placing or answering<br />
ads, or using some other active method. Examples of<br />
the ‘‘other active’’ category include being on a union or<br />
professional register, obtaining assistance from a community<br />
organization, or waiting at a designated labor pickup<br />
point. Passive methods, which do not qualify as job<br />
search, include reading ‘‘help wanted’’ ads <strong>and</strong> taking a job<br />
training course, as opposed to actually answering ‘‘help<br />
wanted’’ ads or placing ‘‘employment wanted’’ ads. The<br />
response categories for active <strong>and</strong> passive methods are<br />
clearly delineated in separately labeled columns on the<br />
interviewers’ computer screens. Job search methods are<br />
identified by the following questions: ‘‘Have you been<br />
doing anything to find work during the last 4 weeks?’’ <strong>and</strong><br />
5–4 Questionnaire Concepts <strong>and</strong> Definitions for the <strong>Current</strong> <strong>Population</strong> <strong>Survey</strong> <strong>Current</strong> <strong>Population</strong> <strong>Survey</strong> TP66<br />
U.S. <strong>Bureau</strong> of Labor Statistics <strong>and</strong> U.S. <strong>Census</strong> <strong>Bureau</strong>