The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly survey of about 50,000 households conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The survey has been conducted for more than 50 years. The components of the survey are:

• Basic Monthly Survey
  The CPS basic monthly files contain information on labor force status but do not contain the full income and demographic data. This survey is done on behalf of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is used as a source for employment, unemployment and labor force data.
 

• Supplements
  The supplements are topic-specific questions that are asked once a year or less. The most notable supplement is the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) that was formerly called the Annual Demographic March Supplement.

In addition to being useful for trend analysis of basic socio-demographic variables, the CPS is good for detail on the topics it specializes in: employment (basic monthly survey), income (ASEC), health insurance (ASEC), or one of the special topics addressed in the other supplements.

General information about the survey can be found at the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey website.

Your options for locating the data include:

• Basic Monthly Survey
  
  • EDS Study 3901
    Options listed included raw data files (at some sites with program code) and Census Bureau's online extraction tool, DataFerret.
   
  
  • CPS Utilities: Outgoing Rotation files
    This is a commercial PC-based sofware/data product available only in the EDS in Lehman Library. It allows for extracting variables from across the years of the survey, (1979 - latest)
   
  
  • CPS Merged Outgoing Rotation Groups
    Files and documentation are available from the National Bureau of Economic Research
 

• Supplements
  
  • Annual Social and Economic Supplement
    • Files for FTP
      Search DataGate for Study 1944. The entries describe access options that include ICPSR, NBER, and Census Bureau.
     
    
    • CPS Utilites: Census Bureau March Supplement/ASEC
      This is a commercial PC-based sofware/data product available only in the EDS lab. It allows for extracting variables from across the years of the survey, (1962 - latest)
     
    
    • IPUMS-CPS
      This is a public online extraction tool. It can be used for creating a subset of variables across the years, starting with 1962.
     
    
    • Current Population Survey (CPS) Table Creator
      This is an online tool developed by the Census Bureau for creating custom tables based on data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement, recent years only. Note, the Bureau has long published a number of standard cross tabulations from this supplement. These can be found based on their subject using the Census Bureau's Subject A-Z list.
   
  
  • Other Supplements
    
    • CPS Utilities
      

      This is a commercial PC-based sofware/data product available only in the EDS lab. It allows for extracting variables from across the years of the survey. Only two of the many supplements are available in this format.

      • January/February files (1975 - latest): Job Tenure and Displaced Workers Supplement
      • October CPS (1968 - latest): Education and School Enrollment Supplement
       
      More information about our CPS Utilities can be found in our guide, CPS at EDS.
     
    
    • DataGate
      Search DataGate for the acronym "cps" with subject words that refer to the supplement in which you are interested. Supplements include: Food Security Supplement, Match File Child Support, Veterans, Computer and Internet Use, Contingent Work Supplement, Displaced Workers, Job Tenure and Occupational Mobility, Tobacco Use, Fertility and Marital History, Annual Demographic, Work Schedules and Work at Home Supplement, Voting and Registration, School Enrollment Supplement, and Computer and Internet Use Supplement.
     
    
    • DataFerret
      This is an online extraction tool that allows you to extract variables from individual studies without having to download the entire file. Users must download the software to their PC and register to gain access to the data. (The software is installed on the DSSC/EDS workstations in Lehman Library. Most surveys are represented with coverage starting at the most current survey with varying coverage for earlier years.
     
    
    • National Bureau of Economic Research Data Collection
      Files from individual supplements for individual years are available along with SAS, SPSS and Stata file statements.