Web www.ocouha.com

www.ocouha.com

An internet presentation of the Occupational Outlook Handbook plus related career guidance information

Statistics from the Current Population Survey

CPS (Current Population Survey) Statistics

In the CPS Statistics sections of the ocouha website (on most of the occupation information pages) are employment estimates (as a percentage of total employment) for Women, Men, Black (or African American), Asian, and Hispanic. There are also employment and median weekly estimates for full-time wage and salary workers for men and women. These estimates come from the Current Population Survey and are calculated and published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (specifically, annual averages tables number 11, "Employed persons by detailed occupation, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity" and number 39, "Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by detailed occupation and sex"). These estimates are not printed separately in the Occuational Outlook Handbook. The BLS describes the Current Population Survey this way:

The Current Population Survey, a monthly household survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, provides a comprehensive body of information on the employment and unemployment experience of the Nation's population, classified by age, sex, race, and a variety of other characteristics.

It may be useful to keep in mind that total employment includes all workers who did any work at all for pay or profit during the week the survey was taken — this includes all part-time and temporary work, as well as regular full-time year-round employment (and these categories include all self-employed workers). Full-time wage and salary workers obviously does not include any part-time workers, and it includes only self-employed workers who are incorporated, and not the unincorporated self-employed.

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