The Cooperation between the Federal Government and the States on the Projections Task Force of the Federal-State Cooperative Program for local population estimates existed in the late 1970's. In August of 1979, the Projections Task Force met and the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and State agencies agreed 1) to establish close working relationships in the preparation of State population projections, 2) to facilitate the flow of technical information on population projections between States, and 3) to establish formal communications for the development of population projections for use in federal programs. A month later the Census Bureau wrote to each State (the District of Columbia and U.S. territories) inviting the Governor to designate an agency to represent the State in the cooperative program. By 1981, the FSCPPP members identified several objectives that later become the Federal/State Cooperative Program for Population Projections (FSCPPP) BY-LAWS:
State FSCPPP agencies, designated by their respective governors, work in cooperation with the Population Projections Branch to exchange technical information on the production of Census Bureau and state agencies subnational population projections.
State agencies review the Census Bureau's state population projections and make recommendations on possible improvement that may better serve all of our customers. The Census Bureau produces state population projections that sum to the national population projection totals and use methodology that is consistent across all states. State agencies produce independent State and local area projections using methodology and techniques that meet their specific needs. While the Census Bureau uses a projections model that produces detailed results for states by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin; state agencies may produce state and county level projections that include household, economic and other characteristics. The FSCPPP meets annually to exchange ideas and to share information on new developments in the field of population projections.
Population projections are used to plan for the future needs of the public and private sector at the state and county level. For example, the Census Bureau's population projections are used by federal agencies as controls to produce other state projections, such as school enrollment by the National Center for Education Statistics, and to project the voting age population, while businesses use the projections to predict market shares and to plan for demographic changes in the population. State agencies population projections with more or less details are used similarly in planning for State and local governments and businesses.
