Current Population Survey Design and Methodology - Census Bureau

have completed their eighth and final CPS interview (i.e.,
CPS MIS 8). There is a two-month lag from the last CPS
interview, to initial contact with the household for an ATUS
interview. For example, households selected from the
January 2005 CPS sample would be part of the March
2005 ATUS sample.
The CPS households from which the ATUS sample is
selected are stratified by race/ethnicity and presence of
children. Non-White households are sampled at a higher
rate to insure that valid comparisons can be made across
major race/ethnicity groups. Half of the households are
assigned to report on Saturdays and Sundays, and half are
assigned to report on weekdays. One person 15 years or
older is selected from each ATUS sample household for
participation in the ATUS.
Weighting procedure
The basic weight for each ATUS record is the product of
the CPS first-stage weight, an adjustment for the CPS
state-based design, the within-stratum sampling interval
and a household size factor. The ATUS basic weight is then
adjusted by an ATUS noninterview factor, plus a set of
population control adjustments; the population control
adjustments are based on sex, age, race/ethnicity, education,
labor force status, and presence of children in the
household. A day adjustment factor is computed separately
for weekdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. This factor
accounts for increased numbers of weekend interviews,
and for varying frequencies of each day of the week for a
particular month.
Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC)
Description of supplement
The ASEC is sponsored by the Census Bureau and the BLS.
The Census Bureau has collected data in the ASEC since
1947. From 1947 to 1955, the ASEC took place in April,
and from 1956 to 2001 the ASEC took place in March.
Prior to 2003, the ASEC was known as the Annual Demographic
Supplement or the March Supplement. In 20012 ,a
sample increase was implemented that required more time
for data collection. Thus, additional ASEC interviews are
now taking place in February and April. Even with this
sample increase, most of the data collection still occurs in
March.
The supplement collects data on family characteristics,
household composition, marital status, education attainment,
health insurance coverage, the foreign-born population,
work experience, income from all sources, receipt of
2 The expanded sample was first used in 2001 for testing and
was not included in the official ADS statistics for 2001. The statistics
from 2002 are the first official set of statistics published
using the expanded sample. The 2001 expanded sample statistics
were released and are used for comparing the 2001 data to the
official 2002 statistics.
Current Population Survey TP66
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau
noncash benefit, poverty, program participation, and geographic
mobility. A major reason for conducting the ASEC
in the month of March is to obtain better income data. It
was thought that since March is the month before the
deadline for filing federal income tax returns, respondents
were likely to have recently prepared tax returns or be in
the midst of preparing such returns and could report their
income more accurately than at any other time of the year.
The universe for the ASEC is slightly different from that for
the basic CPS. It includes certain members of the armed
forces in the estimates. This requires some minor changes
to the sampling procedures and to the weighting methodology.
The ASEC sample consists of the March CPS sample, plus
additional CPS households identified in prior CPS samples
and the following April CPS sample. Table 11−2 shows the
months when the eligible sample is identified for years
2001 through 2004. Starting in 2004, the eligible ASEC
sample households are:
1. The entire March CPS sample.
2. Hispanic households—identified in November (from all
month-in-sample (MIS) groups) and in April (from MIS
1 and 5 groups).
3. Non-Hispanic non-White households—identified in
August (MIS 8), September (MIS 8), October (MIS 8),
November (MIS 1 and 5), and April (MIS 1 and 5).
4. Non-Hispanic White households with children 18 years
or younger—identified in August (MIS 8), September
(MIS 8), October (MIS 8), November (MIS 1 and 5), and
April (MIS 1 and 5).
Prior to 1976, no additional sample households were
added. From 1976 to 2001, only the November CPS
households containing at least one person of Hispanic origin
were added to the ASEC. The households added in
2001, along with a general sample increase in selected
states, are collectively known as the State Children’s
Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) sample expansion. The
added households improve the reliability of the ASEC estimates
for the Hispanic households, non-Hispanic non-
White households, and non-Hispanic White households
with children 18 years or younger.
Because of the characteristics of CPS sample rotation (see
Chapter 3), the additional cases from the August, September,
October, November and April CPS are completely different
from those in the March CPS. The additional sample
cases increase the effective sample size of the ASEC compared
with the March CPS sample alone. The ASEC sample
includes 18 MIS groups for Hispanic households, 15 MIS
groups for non-Hispanic non-White households, 15 MIS
groups for non-Hispanic White households with children
18 years or younger, and 8 MIS groups for all other households.
Current Population Survey Supplemental Inquiries 11–5