EMBARGOED UNTIL: 10 A.M. EDT, MAY 28, 1997 (WEDNESDAY) Public Information Office CB97-89 301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax) 301-457-4067 (TDD) e-mail: pio@census.gov Cavan Capps 301-457-3778 e-mail: ccapps@census.gov New Census Bureau/Bureau Of Labor Statistics Internet Search Tool Launched The U.S. Commerce Department's Census Bureau and the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) are proud to announce a new joint project that enables users to access and manipulate large demographic and economic data sets on a jointly-sponsored Internet site. The Federal Electronic Research and Review Extraction Tool or FERRET, http://ferret.bls.census.gov/cgi-bin/ferret, is a computer search tool developed by the Census Bureau and BLS. It is designed to aid not only sophisticated researchers, but also reporters, students, government policy-makers or amateur statisticians. "FERRET is another step toward accomplishing the Census Bureau's goal of making its data available more quickly, less expensively and to a wider audience," said Cavan Capps, FERRET project manager at the Census Bureau. "We welcome comments from data users about FERRET, its ease of use, its timeliness and whether there are other data sets they would like included." Ferret was developed to provide one-stop access to statistics from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). The CPS is a survey of about 50,000 households that the Census Bureau conducts for BLS, which is used to produce BLS' estimates of employment and unemployment. It also includes periodic supplements covering a range of topics, such as income and poverty, health insurance coverage and school enrollment. Results are published by the Census Bureau and other sponsoring agencies. The SIPP, a Census Bureau survey of about 37,000 households, collects data monthly on sources of income and participation in government-assistance programs, as well as on various aspects of economic well-being. Among the current and future data topics that will be accessible through FERRET are: employment, health care, education, race and ethnicity, health insurance, housing, income and poverty, aging and marriage, and family. FERRET allows users to quickly locate current and historical information from these sources, get tabulations for specific information they need, make comparisons between different data sets, create simple tables and download large amounts of data to desktop and larger computers for custom reports. FERRET will be one of the tools in the Census Bureau's Data Access and Dissemination System (DADS). DADS is being developed to provide better access to all census data. Currently, data from the 1995 and 1996 March Supplement and the 1996 Displaced Workers Supplement to the CPS are available, while data from the SIPP will be included in the near future. Comments on FERRET may be sent to Cavan Capps on 301-457-3778 or by e-mail to ccapps@census.gov.-X-The Census Bureau--pre-eminent collector and provider of timely, relevant, and quality data about the people and economy of the United States. In over 100 surveys annually and 20 censuses a decade, evolving from the first census in 1790, the Census Bureau provides official information about America's people, businesses, industries and institutions.
