Marital and family labor force statistics from the Current Population Survey (FM) fm.txt Section Listing 1. Survey Description 2. Key Concepts and Definitions 3. Data Available ================================================================================ Section 1--Survey Description ================================================================================ The Current Population Survey (CPS), frequently referred to as the household survey, is a monthly survey of about 60,000 eligible households. The CPS provides information about the civilian noninstitutional population age 16 years and over. All persons are classified as employed, unemployed, or not in the labor force. (See definitions of these and other key concepts in Section 2.) The CPS estimates are available by various demographic characteristics, including age, sex, race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, and marital status. Numerous cross-tabulations of labor force variables by demographic and labor force characteristics are available. The survey is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Each month, typically during the calendar week including the 19th day, Census interviewers contact households by telephone and in person and ask questions regarding the labor market activity of household members during the previous calendar week which included the 12th day of the month. Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling and nonsampling error. When a sample, rather than an entire population, is surveyed, there is a chance that the sample estimates may differ from the true population values they represent. The exact difference, or sampling error, varies depending on the particular sample selected, and this variability is measured by the standard error of the estimate. There is about a 90-percent chance, or level of confidence, that an estimate based on a sample will differ by no more than 1.6 standard errors from the true population value because of sampling error. Nonsampling error can occur for many reasons, including the failure to sample a segment of the population, inability to obtain information for all respondents in the sample, inability or unwillingness of respondents to provide correct information, and errors made in the collection or processing of data. References: BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 1, "Labor force data derived from the Current Population Survey." http://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/homch1_a.htm. Additional technical documentation is available at http://www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm. ================================================================================ Section 2--Key Concepts and Definitions ================================================================================ Civilian noninstitutional population. The civilian noninstitutional population includes all persons 16 years of age and older residing in the 50 States and the District of Columbia who are not confined to institutions (for example, correctional facilities or residential nursing and mental health care facilities) and who are not on active duty in the Armed Forces. Employed. Employed persons are those who, during the survey reference week, (a) did any work at all as paid civilians; (b) worked in their own business or profession or on their own farm; (c) worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in a business or farm operated by a family member; or (d) were temporarily absent from their jobs because of illness, vacation, bad weather, or another reason, whether or not they were paid for the time off. Unemployed. Unemployed persons are those who had no employment during the survey week, were available for work at that time, and made specific efforts to find employment sometime in the prior 4 weeks. Persons temporarily laid off from their former jobs and awaiting recall did not need to be looking for work to be classified as unemployed. Civilian labor force. The civilian labor force comprises all persons classified as employed or unemployed. Participation rate. The civilian labor force participation rate represents the civilian labor force as a percent of the civilian noninstitutional population. Employment-population ratio. The employment-population ratio represents the proportion of the population that is employed. Full-time workers. Full-time workers are those who usually work 35 hours or more per week (at all jobs). Part-time workers. Part-time workers are those who usually work less than 35 hours per week (at all jobs). Not in the labor force. Persons who are not employed or unemployed are classified as not in the labor force. This group reflects persons who are neither working nor actively seeking work. Many who are not in the labor force are retired, going to school, or taking care of family members. Marital status. Married, spouse present, refers to husbands and wives living together in the same household, even though one may be temporarily absent on business, on vacation, on a visit, in a hospital, or for other reasons. Other marital status includes persons who are never-married; married, spouse absent; separated; widowed; or divorced. Separated includes persons with legal separations, those living apart with intentions of obtaining a divorce, and other people permanently or temporarily separated because of marital discord. Married, spouse absent, includes married people living apart because either the husband or wife was employed and living at a considerable distance from home, was serving away from home in the Armed Forces, had moved to another area, or had a different place of residence for any other reason except separation as defined above. Children. Data on children refer to own children under age 18 that live in the household. Included are sons, daughters, stepchildren, and adopted children of the husband, wife, or person maintaining the family. Not included are nieces, nephews, grandchildren, other related children, and all unrelated children living in the household. Race. White, Black or African American, and Asian are terms used to describe the race of persons. Persons in these categories are those who selected that race group only. Data for the remaining race categories--American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and persons who selected more than one race category--are included in totals but are not shown separately because the number of survey respondents was too small to develop estimates of sufficient quality for publication. In the survey process, race is determined by the household respondent. Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. This term refers to persons who identified themselves in the survey as being Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino. Persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. ================================================================================ Section 3--Data Available ================================================================================ The marital and family labor force statistics (FM) database from the Current Population Survey reflects data published each year in the news release, "Employment Characteristics of Families." At the present time, only data for persons are available in the FM database. Person data include employment status by marital status and presence and age of own children. For example, the FM database includes the labor force participation rate of mothers with children under age 6 (series FMUP1378865). Data series for families, including the number of families by family type and employment and unemployment of family members, will be added in the future. The data are annual averages of information collected monthly in the survey. The annual averages are calculated from not seasonally adjusted monthly data. At present, the FM database has data beginning with 2009 annual averages. The FM database is one of several databases containing estimates from the CPS. Other data from the CPS, including monthly estimates of employment and unemployment and quarterly data on earnings, are available at http://www.bls.gov/cps/data.htm. References: The current Employment Characteristics of Families news release as well as archived editions and other information on families and marital status are available at http://www.bls.gov/cps/demographics.htm#families.