INTRODUCTION

The statistics in this periodical are compiled from three major sources: (1) household interviews, (2) payroll reports from employers, and (3) administrative statistics of unemployment insurance systems.

Data based on household interviews are obtained from a sample survey of the population 16 years of age and over. The survey is conducted each month by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics and provides comprehensive data on the labor force, the employed and the unemployed, including such characteristics as age, sex, color, marital status, occupations, hours of work, and duration of unemployment. The survey also provides data on the characteristics and past work experience of those not in the labor force. The information is collected by trained interviewers from a sample of about 52,500 households, representing 449 areas in 863 counties and independent cities, with coverage in 50 States and the District of Columbia. The data collected are based on the activity or status reported for the calendar week including the 12th of the month.

Data based on establishment payroll records are compiled each month from mail questionnaires by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in cooperation with State agencies. The payroll survey provides detailed industry information on nonagricultural wage and salary employment, average weekly hours, average hourly and weekly earnings, and labor turnover for the Nation, States, and metropolitan areas. The figures are based on payroll reports from a sample of establishments employing about 25 million nonfarm wage and salary workers. The data relate to all workers, full- or part-time, who received pay during the payroll period which includes the 12th of the month.

Data based on administrative records of unemployment insurance systems furnish a complete count of insured unemployment among the two-thirds of the Nation's labor force covered by unemployment insurance programs. Weekly reports, by State, are issued on the number of initial claims, the volume and rate of insured unemployment under State unemployment insurance programs, and the volume under programs of unemployment compensation for Federal employees, ex-servicemen, and railroad workers. These statistics are published by the Bureau of Employment Security, U.S. Department of Labor, in "Unemployment Insurance Claims."

the figures based on payroll reports, persons on leave paid for by the company are included, but not those on leave without pay for the entire payroll period.

Hours of Work

The household survey measures hours actually worked whereas the payroll survey measures hours paid for by employers. In the household survey data, all persons with a job but not at work are excluded from the hours distributions and the computations of average hours. In the payroll survey, employees on paid vacation, paid holiday, or paid sick leave are included and assigned the number of hours for which they were paid during the reporting period.

Comparability of the household interview data

with other series

Unemployment insurance data. The unemployed total from the household survey includes all persons who did not have a job at all during the survey week and were looking for work or were waiting to be called back to a job from which they had been laid off, regardless of whether or not they were eligible for unemployment insurance. Figures on unemployment insurance claims, prepared by the Bureau of Employment Security of the Department of Labor, exclude persons who have exhausted their benefit rights, new workers who have not earned rights to unemployment insurance, and persons losing jobs not covered by unemployment insurance systems (agriculture, State and local government, domestic service, self employment, unpaid family work, nonprofit organizations, and firms below a minimum size).

In addition, the qualifications for drawing unemployment compensation differ from the definition of unemployment used in the household survey. For example, persons with a job but not at work and persons working only a few hours during the week are sometimes eligible for unemployment compensation but are classified as employed rather than unemployed in the household survey.

Agricultural employment estimates of the Department of Agriculture. The principal differences in coverage

are the inclusion of persons under 16 in the Statistical Research Service (SRS) series and the treatment of dual jobholders who are counted more than once if they worked on more than one farm during the reporting period, There are also wide differences in sampling techniques and collecting and estimating methods, which cannot be readily measured in terms of impact on differences in level and trend of the two series.

Comparability of the payroll employment data with other series

Statistics on manufactures and business, Bureau of the Census. BLS establishment statistics on employment differ from employment counts derived by the Bureau of the Census from its censuses or annual sample surveys of manufacturing establishments and the censuses of business establishments. The major reasons for some noncomparability are different treatment of business units considered parts of an establishment, such as central administrative offices and auxiliary units, the industrial classification of establishments, and different reporting patterns by multiunit companies. There are also differences in the scope of the industries covered, e.g., the Census of Business excludes contract construction, professional services, public utilities, and financial establishments, whereas these are included in BLS statistics.

County Business Patterns. Data in County Business Patterns, published jointly by the U.S. Departments of Commerce, and Health, Education, and Welfare, differ from BLS establishment statistics in the treatment of central administrative offices and auxiliary units. Differences may also arise because of industrial classification and reporting practices. In addition, CBP excludes interstate railroads and government, and coverage is incomplete for some of the nonprofit activities.

Employment covered by State unemployment insurance programs. Not all nonfarm wage and salary workers are covered by the unemployment insurance programs. All workers in certain activities, such as interstate railroads, are excluded. In addition, small firms in covered industries are also excluded in 31 States. In general, these are establishments with less than four employees.

COLLECTION AND COVERAGE

Statistics on the employment status of the population, the personal, occupational, and other characteristics of the employed, the unemployed, and persons not in the labor force, and related data are compiled for the BLS by the Bureau of the Census in its Current Population Survey (CPS). A detailed description of this survey appears in "Concepts and Methods Used in Manpower Statistics from the Current Population Survey" (BLS Re

port 313). This report is available from BLS on request.

These monthly surveys of the population are conducted with a scientifically selected sample designed to represent the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and over. Respondents are interviewed to obtain information about the employment status of each member of the household 16 years of age and over. The inquiry relates to activity or status during the calendar week,

Sunday through Saturday, which includes the 12th of the month. This is known as the survey week. Actual field interviewing is conducted in the following week.

Inmates of institutions and persons under 16 years of age are not covered in the regular monthly enumerations and are excluded from the population and labor force statistics shown in this report. Data on members of the Armed Forces, who are included as part of the categories "total noninstitutional population" and "total labor force," are obtained from the Department of Defense.

Each month, 52,500 occupied units are designated for interview. About 2,250 of these households are visited but interviews are not obtained because the occupants are not found at home after repeated calls or are unavailable for other reasons. This represents a noninterview rate for the survey of about 4.5 percent. In addition to the 52,500 occupied units, there are 8,500 sample units in an average month which are visited but found to be vacant or otherwise not to be enumerated. Part of the sample is changed each month. The rotation plan provides for three-fourths of the sample to be common from one month to the next, and one-half to be common with the same month a year ago.

CONCEPTS

Employed persons comprise (a) all those who during the survey week did any work at all as paid employees, in their own business, profession, or farm, or who worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated by a member of the family, and (b) all those who were not working but who had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily absent because of illness, bad weather, vacation, labor- management dispute, or personal reasons, whether or not they were paid by their employers for the time off, and whether or not they were seeking other jobs.

Each employed person is counted only once. Those who held more than one job are counted in the job at which they worked the greatest number of hours during the survey week.

Included in the total are employed citizens of foreign countries, temporarily in the United States, who are not living on the premises of an Embassy.

Excluded are persons whose only activity consisted of work around the house (such as own home housework, and painting or repairing own home) or volunteer work for religious, charitable, and similar organizations.

Unemployed persons comprise all persons who did not work during the survey week, who made specific efforts to find a job within the past 4 weeks, and who were available for work during the survey week (except for temporary illness). Also included as unemployed are those who did not work at all, were available for work, and (a) were waiting to be called back to a job from which they had been laid off; or (b) were waiting to report to a new wage or salary job within 30 days.

Duration of unemployment represents the length of time (through the current survey week) during which persons classified as unemployed had been continuously looking for work. For persons on layoff, duration of unemployment represents the number of full weeks since the termination of their most recent employment. A period of 2 weeks or more during which a person was employed or ceased looking for work is considered to break the continuity of the present period of seeking work. Average duration is an arithmetic mean computed from a distribution by single weeks of unemployment.

The civilian labor force comprises the total of all civilians classified as employed or unemployed in accordance with the criteria described above. The "total labor force" also includes members of the Armed Forces stationed either in the United States or abroad.

The unemployment rate represents the number unemployed as a percent of the civilian labor force. This measure can also be computed for groups within the labor force classified by sex, age, marital status, color, etc.

Not in labor force includes all civilians 16 years and over who are not classified as employed or unemployed. These persons are further classified as "engaged in own home housework," "in school," "unable to work" because of long-term physical or mental illness, and "other." The "other" group includes for the most part retired persons, those reported as too old to work, the voluntarily idle, and seasonal workers for whom the survey week fell in an "off" season and who were not reported as unemployed. Persons doing only incidental unpaid family work (less than 15 hours) are also classified as not in the labor force.

For persons not in the labor force, data on previous work experience, intentions to seek work again, desire for a job at the time of interview, and reasons for not looking for work are compiled on a quarterly basis. The detailed questions for persons not in the labor force are asked only in those households that are new entrants to the sample and in those that are reentering the sample after 8 months' absence.

Occupation, industry, and class of worker for the employed apply to the job held in the survey week. Persons with two or more jobs are classified in the job at which they worked the greatest number of hours during the survey week. The unemployed are classified according to their latest full-time civilian job lasting 2 weeks or more. The occupation and industry groups used in data derived from the CPS household interviews are defined as in the 1960 Census of Population. Information on the detailed categories included in these groups is available upon request.

The class-of-worker breakdown specifies "wage and salary workers," subdivided into private and government workers, "self-employed workers," and "unpaid family workers." Wage and salary workers receive wages, salary, commission, tips, or pay in kind from a private employer or from a governmental unit. Self-employed persons are those who work for profit or fees in their

Unpaid family workers are persons working without pay for 15 hours a week or more on a farm or in a business operated by a member of the household to whom they are related by blood or marriage.

Hours of work statistics relate to the actual number of hours worked during the survey week. For example, a person who normally works 40 hours a week but who was off on the Veterans Day holiday would be reported as working 32 hours even though he was paid for the holiday.

For persons working in more than one job, the figures relate to the number of hours worked in all jobs during the week. However, all the hours are credited to the major job.

Persons who worked 35 hours or more in the survey week are designated as working "full time"; persons who worked between 1 and 34 hours are designated as working "part time." Part-time workers are classified by their usual status at their present job (either full time or part time) and by their reason for working part time during the survey week (economic or other reasons). "Economic reasons" include: Slack work, material shortages, repairs to plant or equipment, start or termination of job during the week, and inability to find full-time work. "Other reasons" include: Labor dispute, bad weather, own illness, vacation, demands of home housework, school, no desire for full-time work, and full-time worker only during peak season. Persons on full-time schedules include, in addition to those working 35 hours or more, those who worked from 1-34 hours for noneconomic reasons but usually work full time.

Full- and part-time labor force. The full-time labor force consists of persons working on full-time schedules, persons involuntarily working part time (because fulltime work is not available), and unemployed persons seeking full-time jobs. The part-time labor force consists of persons working part time voluntarily and unemployed persons seeking part-time work. Persons with a job but not at work during the survey week are classified according to whether they usually work full or part time.

Labor force time lost is a measure of man-hours lost to the economy through unemployment and involuntary part-time employment and is expressed as a percent of potentially available man-hours. It is computed by assuming: (1) that unemployed persons looking for full-time work lost an average of 37.5 hours, (2) that those looking for parttime work lost the average number of hours actually worked by voluntary part-time workers during the survey week, and (3) that persons on part time for economic reasons lost the difference between 37.5 hours and the actual number of hours they worked.

Under the estimation methods used in the CPS, all of the results for a given month become available simultaneously and are based on returns from the entire panel of respondents. There are no subsequent adjustments to independent benchmark data on labor force, employment, or unemployment. Therefore, revisions of the historical data are not an inherent feature of this statistical program.

1. Noninterview adjustment. The weights for all interviewed households are adjusted to the extent needed to account for occupied sample households for which no information was obtained because of absence, impassable roads, refusals, or unavailability for other reasons. This adjustment is made separately by groups of sample areas and, within these, for six groups--color (white and nonwhite) within the three residence categories (urban, rural nonfarm, and rural farm). The proportion of sample households not interviewed varies from 4 to 6 percent depending on weather, vacations, etc.

2. Ratio estimates. The distribution of the population selected for the sample may differ somewhat, by chance, from that of the Nation as a whole, in such characteristics as age, color, sex, and residence. Since these population characteristics are closely correlated with labor force participation and other principal measurements made from the sample, the latter estimates can be substantially improved when weighted appropriately by the known distribution of these population characteristics. This is accomplished through two stages of ratio estimates as follows:

a. First-stage ratio estimate. This is a procedure in which the sample proportions are weighted by the known 1960 Census data on the color-residence distribution of the population. This step takes into account the differences existing at the time of the 1960 Census between the color-residence distribution for the Nation and for the sample areas.

b. Second-stage ratio estimate. In this step, the sample proportions are weighted by independent current estimates of the population by age, sex, and color. These estimates are prepared by carrying forward the most recent census data (1960) to take account of subsequent aging of the population, mortality, and migration between the United States and other countries.

3. Composite estimate procedure. In deriving statistics for a given month, a composite estimating procedure is used which takes account of net changes from the previous month for continuing parts of the sample (75 percent) as well as the sample results for the current month. This procedure reduces the sampling variability of month-to-month changes especially and of the levels for most items also.

Rounding of Estimates

The sums of individual items may not always equal the totals shown in the same tables because of independent rounding of totals and components to the nearest thousand. Differences, however, are insignificant.

Since the estimates are based on a sample, they may differ from the figures that would have been obtained if it were possible to take a complete census using the same schedules and procedures.

The standard error is a measure of sampling variability, that is, the variations that might occur by chance because only a sample of the population is surveyed. The chances are about 2 out of 3 that an estimate from the sample would differ from a complete census by less than the standard error. The chances are about 19 out of 20 that the difference would be less than twice the standard error.

Table A shows the average standard error for the major employment status categories, by sex, computed from data for past months. Estimates of change derived from the survey are also subject to sampling variability. The standard error of change for consecutive months is also shown in table A. The standard errors of level shown in table A are acceptable approximations of the standard errors of year-to-year change.

Table A. Average standard error of major employment status categories

(In thousands)

Average standard error of-

other characteristics and are approximations of the standard errors of all such characteristics. They should be interpreted as providing an indication of the order of magnitude of the standard errors rather than as the precise standard error for any specific item.

The standard error of the change in an item from one month to the next month is more closely related to the standard error of the monthly level for that item than to the size of the specific month-to-month change itself. Thus, in order to use the approximations to the standard errors of month-to-month changes as presented in table C, it is first necessary to obtain the standard error of the monthly level of the item in table B, and then find the standard error of the month-to-month change in table C corresponding to this standard error of level. It should be noted that table C applies to estimates of change between 2 consecutive months. For changes between the current month and the same month last year, the standard errors of level shown in table B are acceptable approximations.

months only)

BOTH SEXES

30

25

34

25

34

25

40

35

50

35

50

35

102723

9

60

40

75

40

75

40