Current Population Survey

The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly survey of households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It supports a set of widely reported monthly economic indicator statistics such as the national unemployment rate. As a household survey, the CPS provides a comprehensive body of data on the composition of the labor force (by age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, family relationship and veteran status), employment, unemployment, hours of work, earnings, discouraged workers and other persons not in the labor force, and other attributes of the labor force including employed multiple job holders and the impact of education level on employment and earnings. Data are also available on work experience, occupational mobility, job tenure, educational attainment, and school enrollment of workers. Supplemental questions on a variety of labor force topics (e.g., employment of school-aged workers; high school graduates and dropouts; displaced workers) and occasional non-labor topics are also included in the survey. The survey has been conducted monthly since 1940, and underwent a major redesign in 1994. It is currently conducted on a nationally representative sample of about 60,000 households.