Current Population Survey (CPS)

The is a monthly survey of households conducted by the Bureau of Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It provides a comprehensive body of data on the labor force, employment, unemployment, persons not in the labor force, hours of work, earnings, and other demographic and labor force characteristics.

For Your Information

• NEW Data on contingent and alternative employment arrangements. More Info
• Data on professional certifications and licenses
• Charting the labor market: a chart package with the latest Current Population Survey data.

Next Releases:

• The Employment Situation forAugust 2018is scheduled to be released onSeptember 7, 2018,at 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time.

On This Page

CPS News Releases CPS Databases CPS Publications CPS Tables

CPS FAQs CPS Special Notices CPS Related Links Contact CPS

CPS News Releases

Payroll employment increases by 157,000 in July; unemployment rate edges down to 3.9%

08/03/2018

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 157,000 inJuly, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.9percent. Employment increased in professional andbusiness services, in manufacturing, and in healthcare and social assistance.
HTML | PDF | RSS | Charts | Commissioner's Statement

Featured News Releases:

New data on contingent workers and people in alternative employment arrangements

06/07/2018

In May 2017, 3.8 percent of workers held contingent jobs. The survey also identifiedalternative employment arrangements: independent contractors (6.9 percent), on-callworkers (1.7 percent), temporary help agency workers (0.9 percent), and workersprovided by contract firms (0.6 percent).
HTML | PDF | RSS

Unemployment rate for Gulf War-era II veterans edges down to 4.5% in 2017

03/22/2018

The unemployment rate for veterans who served on active duty in theU.S. Armed Forces at any time since September 2001--a group referredto as Gulf War-era II veterans--edged down to 4.5 percent in 2017.
HTML | PDF | RSS

Current CPS Economic News Releases:

• Employment Situation Summary (HTML) (PDF)
• Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation (HTML) (PDF)
• Charting the Labor Market (monthly)—a package of charts featuring data from the Current Population Survey
• Subscribe to the BLS News Service-- receive The Employment Situation news releases by e-mail.
• Schedule of Upcoming Releases
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage And Salary Workers (HTML) (PDF)

All CPS News Releases »

CPS Databases

Databases

Database Name	Special Notice	Top Picks	Data Finder	One Screen	Multi- Screen	Tables	Text Files
Labor Force Statistics (Current Population Survey - CPS)
Weekly & Hourly Earnings (Current Population Survey - CPS)
Union Affiliation Data (Current Population Survey - CPS)
Marital and family labor force statistics (Current Population Survey - CPS)

 

 

Historical News Release Tables

Table Name	News Release Tables
Historical 'A' Tables (Household data): Previous years and months
Employment Situation News Release (monthly) Current Population Survey (CPS)
Historical 'B' Tables (Establishment data): Previous years and months
Employment Situation News Release (monthly) Current Employment Statistics (CES)
Weekly Earnings Tables: Previous quarters
Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers News Release (quarterly) Current Population Survey (CPS)
Union Affiliation Tables: Previous years
Union Members News Release (annual) Current Population Survey (CPS)
Access to Historical Data Series by Subject: Previous years and months
Browse labor force, employment, unemployment, and other data by subject Current Population Survey (CPS)

More Tools

• Series Report — Already know the series identifier for the statistic you want? Use this shortcut to retrieve your data. (See tab-delimited files below for series id codes.)
• LN series id list – Labor force statistics including the national unemployment rate
• LE series id list – Weekly earnings and workers paid hourly rates
• LU series id list – Union affiliation data
• FM series id list – Marital and family labor force statistics
• Compressed flat files site — For those who want it all. Download a compressed flat file of the entire LN database or large subset of the LN database.

Featured CPS Tables

Most-Requested CPS Tables

• Employment status of the population, 1940s to date (HTML) (PDF)
• Employment status by sex, 1970s to date (HTML) (PDF)
• Employment status by detailed age (HTML) (PDF)
• Employment status by educational attainment (HTML) (PDF)
• Employment by detailed occupation, sex, race, and Hispanic ethnicity (HTML) (PDF)
• Median weekly earnings by detailed occupation and sex (HTML) (PDF)

Annual tables   Monthly tables   Quarterly tables

All CPS Data Tables »

CPS Publications

Most-Requested CPS Publications

• How the Government Measures Unemployment
• Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers, 2017 (HTML) (PDF) (Archives and more)
• Labor Force Characteristics by Race and Ethnicity, 2016 (HTML) (PDF) (Archives and more)
• Highlights of Women's Earnings in 2016 (HTML) (PDF) (Archives and more)
• Women in the Labor Force: A Databook (2017 edition) (Archives and more)
• A Profile of the Working Poor, 2016 (HTML) (PDF) (Archives and more)

• Employment & Earnings Online
• CPS technical documentation

All CPS Publications »

CPS Frequently Asked Questions

People Are Asking...

1. Where can I find the unemployment rate for previous years?
2. How is the unemployment rate related to unemployment insurance claims?
3. What is seasonal adjustment?

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why does the Government collect statistics on the unemployed?
2. Where do the statistics come from?
3. What are the basic concepts of employment and unemployment?
4. Who is counted as employed?
5. Who is counted as unemployed?

All CPS FAQs »

CPS Special Notices

• BLS discovered errors in some estimates in the Profile of the Working Poor series of reports. More Info
• The impact of the partial federal government shutdown on the Employment Situation for October 2013. More Info

CPS Related Links

Related Links to Other BLS Information

• Information for CPS Participants
  • What to expect if you've been chosen to participate in the Current Population Survey.
• Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the CES survey (National)
  • Monthly national data by detailed industry on employment, hours, and earnings of workers on the payrolls of nonfarm establishments.
• Local Area Unemployment Statistics
  • Monthly and annual employment, unemployment, and labor force data for Census regions and divisions, States, counties, metropolitan areas, and many cities, by place of residence.
• National Longitudinal Surveys
  • Several surveys gathering information at multiple points in time about the labor market and life experiences of six groups of American men, women, and youth.
• Occupational Employment Statistics
  • Data on employment and wages for over 800 occupations and for about 400 nonfarm industries for the nation, plus occupational data for States and metropolitan areas.

Other Useful Links

• Census Bureau Population and Household Topics
• Census Bureau's Household and Housing Statistics
  • Income and Poverty Data
• Census Bureau Current Population Survey
• Employment and Training Administration
  • Weekly unemployment insurance claims data

Contact Us

Contact the Current Population Survey (CPS)

• Search CPS topics A to Z
• View CPS frequently asked questions

State, city, and county labor force data

Labor force information for Census regions and divisions, states, counties, metropolitan areas, and many cities are available separately from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program.Contact LAUS by e-mail or call [phone].

National labor force data

CPS economists are available to assist you Monday through Friday (8:30 A.M. - 4:30 P.M. Eastern Time), excluding federal holidays.

• Contact us by e-mail
• Contact us by phone: [phone]
  To enable us to better serve all of our customers, please do not submit e-mail questions and then call for the same information.

For assistance with these special topics:

• State, city, county, and other local area data from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program: [phone] or e-mail
• CPS public use microdata files are available from the Census Bureau
• BLS microdata estimation methodology for CPS: e-mail
• CPS seasonal adjustment methodology: e-mail

Written inquiries may be directed to:
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Division of Labor Force Statistics
Suite 4675
2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20212-0001

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not provide information about unemployment insurance (UI)

• For information on the Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report (statistics), please contact the Department of Labor at [phone].
• Unemployment Insurance benefits are determined and administered by each state. Find your state contact information.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not provide information about income and poverty

• The Census Bureau provides official estimates of income, poverty, and health insurance coverage.

 

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