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Labor force characteristics by race and ethnicity, 2018
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Labor force characteristics by race and ethnicity, 2018
In 2018, the overall unemployment rate (jobless rate) for the United States was 3.9 percent; however, the rate varied across race and ethnicity groups. Among the race groups, jobless rates were higher than the national rate for American Indians and Alaska Natives (6.6 percent), Blacks or African Americans (6.5 percent), people categorized as being of Two or More Races (5.5 percent), and Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (5.3 percent). Jobless rates were lower than the national rate for Asians (3.0 percent) and Whites (3.5 percent). The rate for people of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, at 4.7 percent, was higher than the rate of 3.7 percent for non-Hispanics.
Labor market differences among the race and ethnicity groups are associated with many factors, not all of which are measurable. These factors include variations in educational attainment across the groups; the occupations and industries in which the groups work; the geographic areas of the country in which the groups are concentrated, including whether they tend to reside in urban or rural settings; and the degree of discrimination encountered in the workplace.
This report describes the labor force characteristics and earnings patterns among the largest race and ethnicity groups living in the United States—Whites, Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics—and provides detailed data through a set of supporting tables. The report also contains a limited amount of data on American Indians and Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, people who are of Two or More Races, detailed Asian groups, and detailed Hispanic groups. Estimates of these additional groups are not included in all tables because of their relatively small sample sizes.
The data were obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of about 60,000 households that is a rich source of information on the labor force. For definitions of terms and concepts used in this report, see the technical notes. Additional information about the CPS can be found at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm.
The sections that follow highlight some of the major findings on the labor force characteristics of race and ethnicity groups in 2018.
Composition of the labor force
By race, Whites made up the majority of the labor force (78 percent). Blacks and Asians constituted an additional 13 percent and 6 percent, respectively. American Indians and Alaska Natives made up 1 percent of the labor force, while Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders accounted for less than 1 percent. People of Two or More Races made up 2 percent of the labor force (as computed from table 1).
Among Asians participating in the labor force, the largest group was Asian Indian, making up 24 percent of all Asians. Chinese made up 22 percent, followed by Filipinos (15 percent), Vietnamese (11 percent), Koreans (7 percent), and Japanese (5 percent). The remainder (16 percent) were classified as Other Asians, a category that includes individuals in an Asian group not listed above—such as Hmong, Laotian, Thai, Pakistani, and Cambodian—and those who reported two or more Asian groups (as computed from table 2). Seventeen percent of the labor force were people of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, who may be of any race. The majority of Hispanics in the labor force were White (89 percent), 4 percent were Black, and 1 percent were Asian. (See table 2.) By detailed ethnicity, the majority of Hispanics in the labor force were Mexican (61 percent). Central Americans made up another 10 percent. Eight percent of Hispanics were Puerto Rican, 7 percent were South American, and 4 percent were Cuban. An additional 9 percent were classified as Dominican and Other Hispanic or Latino.
Labor force participation
Among the race and ethnicity groups, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (68.5 percent), people of Two or More Races (66.6 percent), and Hispanics (66.3 percent) had the highest labor force participation rates. American Indians and Alaska Natives (59.6 percent) had the lowest rate. The participation rate for Asians was 63.5 percent; Whites, 62.8 percent; and Blacks, 62.3 percent. (See tables 1, 2, 3, 4, and 4A, and chart 1.)
Among adult men (20 years and older) in the largest race and ethnicity groups, Hispanics (80.2 percent) were more likely to participate in the labor force than were the other groups, while Blacks (68.0 percent) were the least likely. The labor force participation rate for Asian men (74.9 percent) was higher than the rate for White men (71.8 percent). Among adult women (20 years and older), Blacks (62.4 percent) were more likely to participate in the labor force than were Hispanics (59.4 percent), Asians (58.6 percent), and Whites (57.6 percent). Among teenagers (16 to 19 years), Asians (19.6 percent) were less likely to participate in the labor force than were Whites (37.2 percent), Hispanics (32.5 percent), and Blacks (30.5 percent). (See table 3.)
Employment
The employment–population ratio (the proportion of the population that is employed) ranged from 55.6 percent for American Indians and Alaska Natives to 64.9 percent for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders. The employment–population ratio was 58.3 percent for Blacks, 60.7 percent for Whites, 61.6 percent for Asians, 62.9 percent for individuals of Two or More Races, and 63.2 percent for Hispanics. (See tables 1, 2, 3, 5, and 5A.)
Among adult men (20 years and older) in the largest race and ethnicity groups, Hispanics (77.1 percent) continued to have the highest employment–population ratio. Black men (63.7 percent) had the lowest, also continuing a longstanding pattern. The employment–population ratios for Asian men and White men were 72.8 percent and 69.5 percent, respectively. Among adult women, the ratios showed less variation across the major race and ethnicity groups: 59.0 percent for Blacks, 56.9 percent for Asians, 56.6 percent for Hispanics, and 55.8 percent for Whites. (See table 3.)
The employment–population ratio among teenagers (16 to 19 years) continued to be higher for Whites than for Hispanics, Asians, or Blacks. The ratio for White teens (33.0 percent) was about 15 percentage points higher than the ratio for Asian teens (17.9 percent), about 9 percentage points higher than for Black teens (23.8 percent), and about 5 percentage points higher than for Hispanic teens (27.8 percent).
Educational attainment
Among people 25 years and older, the share of the labor force with at least a high school diploma was more than 90 percent each for Whites, Blacks, and Asians. Seventy-six percent of Hispanics in the labor force had attained at least a high school diploma. Asians were the most likely of the groups to have graduated from college: 63 percent of Asians in the labor force had a bachelor’s degree and higher, compared with 41 percent of Whites, 31 percent of Blacks, and 21 percent of Hispanics (computed from table 6 and chart 2).
Higher levels of education are generally associated with a greater likelihood of employment, and a lower likelihood of unemployment. For almost all major race and ethnicity groups, jobless rates for people with a bachelor’s degree and higher were generally lower than for other levels of educational attainment. (See table 6.)
Individuals with higher levels of education are more likely to be employed in higher paying jobs—such as those in management, professional, and related occupations—than are individuals with less education. Median earnings of people 25 years and older increased with educational attainment across all major race and ethnicity groups. Among full-time wage and salary workers, median usual weekly earnings for Blacks ($1,065) and Hispanics ($1,101) with a bachelor’s degree and higher were lower than Asians ($1,465) and Whites ($1,342). (See table 17.)
Occupation
Fifty-four percent of employed Asians worked in management, professional, and related occupations—the highest paying major occupational category—compared with 41 percent of employed Whites, 31 percent of employed Blacks, and 22 percent of employed Hispanics. (See table 7 and chart 3.)
Among employed men, 55 percent of Asians worked in management, professional, and related occupations, compared with 37 percent of Whites, 26 percent of Blacks, and 19 percent of Hispanics. About 20 percent of employed Black and Hispanic men were employed in service occupations, whereas 13 percent of both employed Asian and White men worked in these occupations. Employed Black and Hispanic men also were more likely than White and Asian men to work in production, transportation, and material moving occupations. Twenty-eight percent of employed Hispanic men worked in natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations, compared with 18 percent of White men, 12 percent of Black men, and 6 percent of Asian men. (See table 7.)
Employed Asian women were more likely than other employed women to work in management, professional, and related occupations: 53 percent of Asian women, compared with 45 percent of White women, 36 percent of Black women, and 27 percent of Hispanic women. Among employed women, 61 percent of Hispanics worked in two occupational groups—service occupations and sales and office occupations—compared with 55 percent of Blacks, 48 percent of Whites, and 41 percent of Asians.
Hispanics accounted for 17 percent of total employment but were substantially overrepresented in several detailed occupational categories, including painters, construction and maintenance (55 percent); miscellaneous agricultural workers (53 percent); and maids and housekeeping cleaners (49 percent). Blacks made up 12 percent of all employed workers, but accounted for more than one-quarter of those in several specific occupations, including nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides (36 percent); security guards and gaming surveillance officers (31 percent); and licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (30 percent). Asians accounted for 6 percent of all employed workers, but made up a much larger share of workers in several occupation categories, including miscellaneous personal appearance workers (57 percent); software developers, applications and system software (35 percent); and physicians and surgeons (20 percent). Whites made up 78 percent of all employed people, but accounted for 96 percent of farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers; 92 percent of construction managers; and 90 percent of chief executives. (See table 8.)
Industry
Among employed men, Hispanics were more likely to work in the construction industry (21 percent) than were Whites (14 percent), Blacks (7 percent), or Asians (4 percent). Employed Black men were more likely than employed men of other race and ethnicity groups to work in transportation and utilities (13 percent). Twenty-one percent of employed Asian men worked in professional and business services, higher than the shares of White men (13 percent), Hispanic men (11 percent), and Black men (11 percent). A large share of employed women across all race and ethnicity groups worked in education and health services: Blacks (40 percent), Whites (36 percent), Asians (32 percent), and Hispanics (30 percent). (See table 9.)
Families and parents
Eighty-eight percent of both Asian families and Hispanic families had an employed family member. By contrast, White and Black families were less likely to have an employed family member: 80 percent and 79 percent, respectively.
Families maintained by women (no opposite-sex spouse present) accounted for 42 percent of Black families, 25 percent of Hispanic families, 15 percent of White families, and 12 percent of Asian families. Among families maintained by women without a spouse present, Asian families were the most likely to have an employed family member (85 percent). In comparison, 76 percent of Black families, 78 percent of White families, and 80 percent of Hispanic families that were maintained by women had at least one employed family member. In general, families maintained by women were less likely than married-couple families or families maintained by men to have an employed family member. (See table 10.)
Among mothers with children under 18 years old, Black mothers (77.2 percent) were more likely to be in the labor force than White mothers (71.2 percent), Asian mothers (65.0 percent), or Hispanic mothers (63.9 percent). (See table 11.)
Across all race and ethnicity groups, fathers with children under 18 years were much more likely to be in the labor force than were mothers with children under 18 years. Labor force participation rates for these fathers were 93.9 percent for White men, 93.8 percent for Hispanic men, 93.4 percent for Asian men, and 89.0 percent for Black men.
Unemployment
Jobless rates varied considerably by race and ethnicity. American Indians and Alaska Natives (6.6 percent) and Blacks (6.5 percent) had the highest unemployment rates, and the rate was lowest for Asians (3.0 percent). The jobless rates were 3.5 percent for Whites, 4.7 percent for Hispanics, 5.3 percent for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, and 5.5 percent for individuals of Two or More Races. (See tables 1, 2, 3, 12, and 12A, and charts 4 and 5.)
Among adults (20 years and older), the jobless rate for Black men (6.2 percent) was higher than that for Black women (5.6 percent). By contrast, adult Hispanic men (3.8 percent) had a lower rate than adult Hispanic women (4.7 percent). For Asians and Whites, the rates for adult men and women showed little or no difference. Among teenagers (16 to 19 years), Blacks had the highest unemployment rate, at 21.9 percent, compared with 14.5 percent for Hispanics, 11.3 percent for Whites, and 8.9 percent for Asians. (See table 3.)
Unemployed Asians and Blacks experienced longer periods of unemployment than did Whites and Hispanics. The median duration of unemployment for Asians and Blacks was 10.9 weeks and 10.8 weeks, respectively, whereas the figure for Whites was 8.8 weeks and Hispanics, 8.2 weeks. (See table 13.)
Of the 6.3 million unemployed, 47 percent were job losers (workers who lost their jobs or who completed temporary jobs). Reentrants to the labor force (31 percent), job leavers (13 percent), and new entrants (10 percent) accounted for the rest of the unemployed people. Of the total unemployed for each major race and ethnicity group, 49 percent of Whites and 49 percent of Hispanics were job losers, compared with 46 percent of Blacks and 38 percent of Asians. Sixteen percent of unemployed Asians, 12 percent of unemployed Hispanics, 11 percent of unemployed Blacks, and 8 percent of unemployed Whites were new entrants to the labor force. (See table 14.)
Not in the labor force
As computed from table 15, Blacks made up 13 percent of the civilian labor force, and 23 percent of people marginally attached to the labor force. Those marginally attached to the labor force are individuals who
-were not in the labor force
-wanted to work and were available to work
-had looked for a job sometime in the previous 12 months, but not in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.
Hispanics and Asians were represented among the marginally attached nearly proportionately to their share of the labor force. Whites were underrepresented among the marginally attached relative to their share of the labor force: 78 percent of the labor force versus 67 percent of the marginally attached. Blacks also made up a high proportion of discouraged workers (27 percent) relative to their share of the labor force. Discouraged workers, who represent a subset of the marginally attached, are people not currently looking for work because they believe that no jobs are available for them. (See table 15.)
Earnings
Among the major race and ethnicity groups, Hispanics and Blacks continued to have considerably lower earnings than Whites and Asians. The median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers in 2018 were $680 for Hispanics, $694 for Blacks, $916 for Whites, and $1,095 for Asians. The earnings for White men ($1,002), Black men ($735), and Hispanic men ($720) were 81 percent, 59 percent, and 58 percent, respectively, of the earnings of Asian men ($1,241). The median earnings of White women ($817), Black women ($654), and Hispanic women ($617) were 87 percent, 70 percent, and 66 percent, respectively, of the earnings of Asian women ($937). (These earnings comparisons are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that can be significant in explaining earnings differences, such as job skills and responsibilities, work experience, and specialization.) (See table 16.)
The earnings disparity across the major race and ethnicity groups for men holds for nearly all major occupational groups. For example, median usual weekly earnings of Asian men and White men working full time in management, professional, and related occupations (the highest paying major occupational group), at $1,732 and $1,488, respectively, were considerably higher than the earnings of Hispanic men ($1,174) and Black men ($1,164) in the same occupational group. (See table 18.)
Median weekly earnings for women by race and ethnicity groups were relatively close across a number of occupations. For example, among women in service occupations, the earnings were $528 for Asians, $517 for Whites, $490 for Blacks, and $489 for Hispanics. By contrast, in management, professional, and related occupations, the earnings of Asian women were higher than those for women in other race and ethnicity groups.
Statistical Tables
[+]Table 1. Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and older by gender and race, 2018 annual averages (Numbers in thousands)
[+]Table 2. Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and older by detailed Asian group, and Hispanic or Latino and non-Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, gender, and race, 2018 annual averages (Numbers in thousands)
[+]Table 3. Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population by gender, age, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2018 annual averages (Numbers in thousands)
[+]Table 4. Labor force participation rates by gender, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 1972–2018 annual averages (Percent)
[+]Table 4A. Labor force participation rates by gender, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 1972–2018 annual averages (Percent)
[+]Table 5. Employment-population ratios by gender, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 1972–2018 annual averages (Percent)
[+]Table 5A. Employment-population ratios by gender, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 1972–2018 annual averages (Percent)
[+]Table 6. Employment status of people 25 years and older by educational attainment, gender, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2018 annual averages (Numbers in thousands)
[+]Table 7. Employed people by occupation, gender, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2018 annual averages
[+]Table 8. Employed people by detailed occupation, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2018 annual averages (Numbers in thousands)
[+]Table 9. Employed people by industry, gender, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2018 annual averages
[+]Table 10. Employment and unemployment in families by type of family, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2018 annual averages (Numbers in thousands)
[+]Table 11. Labor force participation rates by presence and age of youngest child, gender, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 1994–2018 annual averages (Percent)
[+]Table 12. Unemployment rates by gender, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 1972–2018 annual averages (Percent)
[+]Table 12A. Unemployment rates by gender, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 1972–2018 annual averages (Percent)
[+]Table 13. Unemployed people by duration of unemployment, gender, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2018 annual averages
[+]Table 14. Unemployed people by reason for unemployment, gender, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2018 annual averages
[+]Table 15. People in the labor force and not in the labor force by selected characteristics, 2018 annual averages (Numbers in thousands)
[+]Table 16. Median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by gender, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 1979–2018 annual averages
[+]Table 17. Median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by educational attainment, gender, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2018 annual averages
[+]Table 18. Median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by occupation, gender, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2018 annual averages
Technical Notes
The estimates in this report were obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a national monthly sample survey of approximately 60,000 eligible households that provides a wide range of information on the labor force, employment, and unemployment. Earnings data are collected from one-fourth of the CPS monthly sample. The survey is conducted for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by the U.S. Census Bureau, using a scientifically selected national sample with coverage in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Material in this report is in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission.
Upon request, the information presented here is available to individuals who are sensory impaired. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.
For more information on the data provided in this report, contact the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Division of Labor Force Statistics. Email: cpsinfo@bls.gov; Telephone: (202) 691-6378.
Concepts and definitions
Civilian noninstitutional population. This group is made up of people 16 years of age and older residing in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, who are not confined to institutions, such as nursing homes and prisons, and who are not on active duty in the Armed Forces.
Employed. People, who, during the survey reference week (which is generally the week including the 12th day of the month), (a) did any work at all as paid employees; (b) worked in their own business or profession or on their own farm; or (c) worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in a family member’s business. People who were temporarily absent from their jobs or businesses because of illness, vacation, a labor dispute, or some other reason also are counted as employed.
Unemployed. People who had no employment during the reference week, but were available for work (except if they had a temporary illness), and had made specific efforts to find employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference week. People who were waiting to be recalled to a job from which they had been laid off need not have been looking for work to be classified as unemployed.
Duration of unemployment. The length of time (through the reference week) that people classified as unemployed had been looking for work. For people on layoff, the duration of unemployment is the number of full weeks they had been on layoff. Mean duration is the arithmetic average computed from single weeks of unemployment; median duration is the midpoint of a distribution of weeks of unemployment.
Reason for unemployment. Unemployment also is categorized according to the status of individuals at the time they began to look for work. The reasons for unemployment are divided into four major categories:
-Job losers, comprising (a) people on temporary layoff, who have been given a date to return to work or who expect to return within 6 months (people on layoff need not be looking for work to qualify as unemployed), (b) permanent job losers, whose employment ended involuntarily and who began looking for work, and (c) people who completed temporary jobs who began looking for work after the jobs ended.
-Job leavers, people who quit or otherwise terminated their employment voluntarily and immediately began looking for work.
-Reentrants, people who previously worked but who were out of the labor force prior to beginning their job search.
-New entrants, people who had never worked.
Civilian labor force. This group comprises all people classified as employed or unemployed in accordance with the criteria described above.
Unemployment rate. This rate is the number unemployed as a percentage of the civilian labor force.
Labor force participation rate. This rate is the labor force as a percentage of the population.
Employment–population ratio. This ratio is the number of employed as a percentage of the population.
Not in the labor force. All people in the civilian noninstitutional population who are neither employed nor unemployed are classified as out of the labor force. People marginally attached to the labor force are those individuals who are not in the labor force but who wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the previous 12 months (or since the end of their last job if they held one within the past 12 months). They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, were not looking for work because they believed that no jobs were available for them.
Occupation and industry. Information on occupation and industry applies to the job held during the reference week. People with two or more jobs are classified into the occupation and industry in which they worked the greatest number of hours. The occupational and industry classification of CPS data is based on the 2010 Census occupational classification system and the 2012 Census industrial classification system, which are derived from the 2010 Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) and the 2012 North American Industry Classification (NAICS), respectively.[1]
White, Black or African American, Asian, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. In accordance with Office of Management and Budget guidelines, these terms are used to describe the race of people. Beginning in 2003, people in these categories are those who selected that race group only. Those who identify multiple race groups are categorized as people of Two or More Races. (Previously, people identified a group as their main race.) People who identified themselves as Asian are further classified as Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, or Other Asian. The Other Asian category includes both individuals of groups not listed—such as Pakistani, Hmong, and Cambodian—and those who reported two or more Asian groups. Estimates for American Indians and Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, and people of Two or More Races are not shown separately in all tables because the number of survey respondents is too small to develop estimates of publication quality. In the enumeration process, race is determined by the household respondent.[2]
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. This term refers to people who identified themselves in the enumeration process as being of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin. These individuals are further classified by detailed Hispanic ethnicity. Previous versions of this report presented data for the following detailed Hispanic ethnicity categories: Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central and South American, and Other Hispanic or Latino. The latter two categories were expanded in 2014 into additional categories: Central American, which includes the two subcategories of Salvadoran and Other Central American (excluding Salvadorans); South American; and Other Hispanic or Latino, which includes the two subcategories of Dominican and Other Hispanic or Latino (excluding Dominicans). People whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race.[3]
Usual weekly earnings. These data represent earnings before taxes and other deductions, and include any overtime pay, commissions, or tips usually received (at the main job, in the case of multiple jobholders). Earnings reported on a basis other than weekly (for example, annual, monthly, or hourly) are converted to weekly. The term “usual” is as perceived by the respondent. If the respondent asks for a definition of usual, interviewers are instructed to define the term as more than half the weeks worked during the past 4 or 5 months. Data refer to the sole or primary job of wage and salary workers (excluding all self-employed people, regardless of whether their businesses were incorporated).
Median earnings. The numerical value that divides the earnings distribution into two equal parts, one part having values above the median and the other having values below the median. The medians shown in this publication are calculated by linear interpolation of the $50 centered interval within which each median falls.
Family. A group of two or more people residing together who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption; all such people are considered members of one family. The race or ethnicity of families is determined by that of the householder: the family reference person in whose name the housing unit is owned or rented. The count of families is for “primary” families only—that is, the householder and all other people related to and residing with the householder. Families comprise those without children as well as those with children under 18 years and are defined as follows:
-Married-couple families refer to opposite-sex married couples only.
-Families maintained by women and families maintained by men are each made up of householders residing with one or more family members, but not an opposite-sex spouse. The household may or may not include a same-sex or an unmarried domestic partner (of either sex).
Children. Data on children refer to one’s own children under age 18 who live in the household. Included are sons, daughters, stepchildren, and adopted children. Not included are nieces, nephews, grandchildren, other related children, and all unrelated children living in the household.
Reliability of the estimates
Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling error and nonsampling error. When a sample, rather than an entire population, is surveyed, there is a chance that the sample estimates may differ from the true population values they represent. The component of this difference that occurs because samples differ by chance is known as sampling error, and its variability is measured by the standard error of the estimate. There is about a 90-percent chance, or level of confidence, that an estimate based on a sample will differ by no more than 1.6 standard error from the true population value because of sampling error. BLS analyses are generally conducted at the 90-percent level of confidence.
All other types of error are referred to as nonsampling error. Nonsampling error can occur for many reasons, including the failure to sample a segment of the population, inability to obtain information from all respondents in the sample, inability or unwillingness of respondents to provide correct information, and errors made in the collection or processing of data.[4]
[1] Additional information about these classifications is available online; see “Historical comparability of occupation and industry data from the Current Population Survey,” Labor force statistics from the Current Population Survey (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 30, 2018), www.bls.gov/cps/cpsoccind.htm.
[2] More information on the 2003 changes to questions on race and Hispanic ethnicity is available on the BLS website; see Mary Bowler, Randy E. Ilg, Stephen Miller, Ed Robison, and Anne Polivka, “Revisions to the Current Population Survey Effective in January 2003” (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), www.bls.gov/cps/rvcps03.pdf.
[3] See Bowler, et al, www.bls.gov/cps/rvcps03.pdf.
[4] A more detailed discussion of the reliability of data from the CPS and information on estimating standard errors is available online; see “Calculating Approximate Standard Errors and Confidence Intervals for Current Population Survey Estimates,” Current Population Survey (CPS) Technical Documentation (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, November 2018), https://www.bls.gov/cps/calculating-...-intervals.pdf.
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