The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly survey of households conducted by the Bureau of Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It provides a comprehensive body of data on the labor force, employment, unemployment, persons not in the labor force, hours of work, earnings, and other demographic and labor force characteristics.

For Your Information

Next Release: May 6, 2011

The Employment Situation for April 2011 is scheduled to be released on May 6, 2011, at 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time.

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CPS News Releases

Employment Situation

April 01, 2011
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 216,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 8.8 percent. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care, leisure and hospitality, and mining. Employment in manufacturing continued to trend up. More...
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Featured News Releases:

Employment Situation of Veterans--2010

March 11, 2011
The unemployment rate for veterans of Gulf War era II (September 2001 forward) was 11.5 percent in 2010. About 25 percent of Gulf War-era II veterans reported having a service-connected disability in July 2010, compared with about 13 percent of all veterans.
Full text: (HTML) (PDF)

Union Membership--2010

January 21, 2011
In 2010, the union membership rate was 11.9 percent, down from 12.3 percent a year earlier. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions declined by 612,000 to 14.7 million.
Full text: (HTML) (PDF)

Current CPS Economic News Releases:

All CPS News Releases »

CPS Databases

Databases

Database Name Special
Notice		 Top
Picks		 One
Screen		 Multi-
Screen		 Tables Text Files
Tutorials:
For help, try these tutorials		   Most Requested Statistics Tutorial Create Customized Tables (one screen) Tutorial      
Labor Force Statistics including the National Unemployment Rate
(Current Population Survey - CPS) 		  Top Picks One Screen Data Search   Tables Text Files
Weekly & Hourly Earnings
(Current Population Survey - CPS) 		  Top Picks One Screen Data Search   Tables Text Files
Union Affiliation Data
(Current Population Survey - CPS) 		  Top Picks One Screen Data Search   Tables Text Files

 

Historical News Release Tables

Table Name Data Retrieval Wizard
Tutorial:
For help, try this tutorial. 		Data Retrieval Wizard Tutorial
Historical 'A' Tables (Household data): Previous years and months
Employment Situation News Release (monthly)
 Current Population Survey (CPS) 		Data Retrieval Wizard
Historical 'B' Tables (Establishment data): Previous years and months
Employment Situation News Release (monthly)
Current Employment Statistics (CES) 		Data Retrieval Wizard
Weekly Earnings Tables: Previous quarters
Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers News Release (quarterly)
 Current Population Survey (CPS)		 Data Retrieval Wizard
Union Affiliation Tables: Previous years
Union Members News Release (annual)
 Current Population Survey (CPS) 		Data Retrieval Wizard

More Tools

  • Series Report —Already know the series identifier for the statistic you want? Use this shortcut to retrieve your data.
  • Flat files FTP Site —or those who want it all. Download a flat file of the entire database or large subset of the database.

Featured CPS Tables

Most-Requested CPS Tables

  • Employment status of the population, 1940s to date (TXT) (PDF)
  • Employment status by sex, 1970s to date (TXT) (PDF)
  • Employment status by detailed age, 2010 annual averages (TXT) (PDF)
  • Employment status by educational attainment, 2010 annual averages (TXT) (PDF)
  • Employment by detailed occupation, sex, race, and Hispanic ethnicity, 2010 annual averages (TXT) (PDF)
  • Median weekly earnings by detailed occupation and sex, 2010 annual averages (TXT) (PDF)

Annual tables   Monthly tables   Quarterly tables

All CPS Data Tables »

CPS Publications

Most-Requested CPS Publications

All CPS Publications »

CPS Frequently Asked Questions

People Are Asking...

  1. Where can I find the unemployment rate for previous years?
  2. How is the unemployment rate related to unemployment insurance claims?
  3. What is seasonal adjustment?

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Why does the Government collect statistics on the unemployed?
  2. Where do the statistics come from?
  3. What are the basic concepts of employment and unemployment?
  4. Who is counted as employed?
  5. Who is counted as unemployed?

All CPS FAQs »

CPS Special Notices

CPS Related Links

Related Links to Other BLS Programs

  • Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the CES survey (National)
    • Monthly national data by detailed industry on employment, hours, and earnings of workers on the payrolls of nonfarm establishments.
  • Local Area Unemployment Statistics
    • Monthly and annual employment, unemployment, and labor force data for Census regions and divisions, States, counties, metropolitan areas, and many cities, by place of residence.
  • National Longitudinal Surveys
    • Several surveys gathering information at multiple points in time about the labor market and life experiences of six groups of American men, women, and youth.
  • Occupational Employment Statistics
    • Data on employment and wages for over 800 occupations and for about 400 nonfarm industries for the nation, plus occupational data for States and metropolitan areas.

Other Useful Links

Contact Us

Contact the Current Population Survey (CPS)


Economists are available to assist you with data from the Current Population Survey Monday through Friday (8:00 A.M. - 4:30 P.M. Eastern Time), excluding Federal holidays.
  • Contact us by e-mail
  • Contact us by phone: (202) 691-6378
    To enable us to better serve all of our customers, please do not submit e-mail questions and then call for the same information.

For assistance with these special topics:


Written inquiries may be directed to:
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Division of Labor Force Statistics
Suite 4675
2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20212-0001



The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not provide information about unemployment insurance (UI):