Current Population Survey – Design

• Household addresses are sampled (not people). Each address is in sample for 8 rotations, and overlapping samples ensure consistent monthly national cross-sections of the non-institutional household population.

• The ‘core’ information used to measure unemployment, poverty, and other labor force characteristics were supplemented in the late 1940s with additional topical questions. Some of the supplements occur yearly and some less often:

  • February (biennially) – Supplements about displaced workers, job tenure, and occupational mobility

  • March (yearly) – The annual demographic supplement used for the income and poverty reports as well as reports on demographic characteristics

  • June (biennially) – A fertility supplement

  • October (yearly) – The school enrollment supplement

  • November (biennially) – A voting supplement

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