CPS Earnings (LE) le.txt Section Listing 1. Survey Definition 2. FTP files listed in the survey directory. 3. Time series, series file, data file, & mapping file definitions and relationships 4. Series file format and field definitions 5. Data file format and field definitions 6. Mapping file formats and field definitions 7. Data Element Dictionary ================================================================================ Section 1 ================================================================================ Section 1 (Earnings) Survey Description: The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a sample survey of the population 16 years of age and over. The survey is conducted each month by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics and provides comprehensive data on the labor force, the employed, and the unemployed, classified by such characteristics as age, sex, race, family relationship, marital status, occupation, and industry attachment. The information is collected by trained interviewers from a sample of about 60,000 households located in 754 sample areas. These areas are chosen to represent all counties and independent cities in the United States, with coverage in 50 States and the District of Columbia. The data collected are based on the activity or status reported for the calendar week including the 12th of the month. Summary Data Available: Earnings data are available for all workers, with data available by age, race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, sex, occupation, usual full- or part-time status, educational attainment, and other characteristics. Frequency of Observations: Quarterly averages, not seasonally adjusted. Annual Averages: Annual averages are available for all series. Data Characteristics: The earnings data are collected from one-quarter of the CPS monthly sample and are limited to wage and salary workers. All self-employed workers are excluded. Most series pertain to workers who usually work full time on their sole or primary job. 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, 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 wage and salary workers (excluding all self-employed persons regardless of whether their businesses were incorporated). Median earnings figures indicate the 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 are calculated by linear interpolation of the $50 centered interval within which each median falls. Data expressed in constant dollars are deflated by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). Updating Schedule: Updates are usually available with the issuance of the quarterly usual weekly earnings news release. Annual average data are available in the fourth quarter news release. References: Employment and Earnings, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics ================================================================================== Section 2 ================================================================================== The following CPS Earnings files are on the BLS internet in the sub-directory pub/time.series/le: le.contacts - Contacts for LE survey le.ages - Age codes mapping file le.cert - Certification and licensing status codes mapping file le.class - Class of Worker codes mapping file le.data.0.Current - All current year-to-date data le.data.1.AllData - All data le.earn - Earnings codes mapping file le.education - Education codes mapping file le.fips - Federal Information Processing Standards codes mapping file le.indy - industry codes mapping file le.lfst - Labor Force Status codes mapping file le.occupation - Occupation codes mapping file le.orig - Ethnic Origin codes mapping file le.pcts - Percent codes mapping file le.periodicity - Periodicity codes mapping file le.race - Race codes mapping file le.seasonal - Seasonal codes mapping file le.seq - Sequence codes mapping file le.series - All series and their beginning and end dates le.sexs - Sexes codes mapping file le.stype - Seasonal Type codes mapping file le.tdata - Time Data codes mapping file le.txt - General information le.unin - Union codes mapping file ================================================================================= Section 3 ================================================================================= The definition of a time series, its relationship to and the interrelationship among series, data and mapping files is detailed below: A time series refers to a set of data observed over an extended period of time over consistent time intervals (i.e. monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually). BLS time series data are typically produced at monthly intervals and represent data ranging from a specific consumer item in a specific geographical area whose price is gathered monthly to a category of worker in a specific industry whose employment rate is being recorded monthly, etc. The FTP files are organized such that data users are provided with the following set of files to use in their efforts to interpret data files: a) a series file (only one series file per survey) b) mapping files c) data files The series file contains a set of codes which, together, compose a series identification code that serves to uniquely identify a single time series. Additionally, the series file also contains the following series-level information: a) the period and year corresponding to the first data observation b) the period and year corresponding to the most recent data observation. The mapping files are definition files that contain explanatory text descriptions that correspond to each of the various codes contained within each series identification code. The data file contains one line of data for each observation period pertaining to a specific time series. Each line contains a reference to the following: a) a series identification code b) year in which data is observed c) period for which data is observed (M13, Q05, and S03 indicate annual averages) d) value e) footnote code (if available) =================================================================================