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 50,000 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."

Relation between the household and payroll series

The household and payroll data supplement one another, each providing significant types of information that the other cannot suitably supply. Population characteristics, for example, are readily obtained only from the household survey whereas detailed industrial classifications can be reliably derived only from establishment reports.

Data from these two sources differ from each other because of differences in definition and coverage, sources of information, methods of collection, and estimating procedures. Sampling variability and response errors are additional reasons for discrepancies. The major factors which have a differential effect on levels and trends of the two series are as follows:

Employment

Coverage. The household survey definition of employment comprises wage and salary workers (including domestics and other private household workers), selfemployed persons, and unpaid workers who worked 15 hours or more during the survey week in family-operated enterprises. Employment in both farm and nonfarm industries is included. The payroll survey covers only wage and salary employees on the payrolls of nonfarm establishments.

Multiple jobholding. The household approach provides information on the work status of the population without duplication since each person is classified as employed, unemployed, or not in the labor force, Employed persons holding more than one job are counted only once and are classified according to the job at which they worked the greatest number of hours during the survey week. In the figures based on establishment records, persons who worked in more than one establishment during the reporting period are counted each time their names appear on payrolls.

Unpaid absences from jobs. The household survey includes among the employed all persons who had jobs but were not at work during the survey week--that is, were not working but had jobs from which they were temporarily absent because of illness, bad weather, vacation, labor-management dispute, or because they were taking time off for various other reasons, even if they were not paid by their employers for the time off. In

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,