Technical Note
The estimates in this news release are based on annual average data from the Current
Population Survey (CPS). The CPS, which is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS), is a monthly survey of about 60,000 eligible households that
provides information on the labor force status, demographics, and other characteristics of
the nation’s civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over.
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Definitions
Definitions of the principal terms used in this news release are described briefly below.
Householder. The householder is the family reference person. This is the person (or one of the people)
in whose name the housing unit is owned or rented. The relationship of other individuals in the
household is defined in terms of their relationship to the householder. The race and Hispanic
ethnicity of the family is determined by that of the householder.
Family. A family is a group of two or more people residing together who are related by birth, marriage,
or adoption; all such individuals are considered members of one family. Sub-families are excluded
from the count of families. A sub-family is a family that does not maintain their own household, such
as a married couple living in the home of a friend and their family. In this example, the report
would include only one family, not two.
Families include those with and without children under age 18. Families are further categorized as
follows:
-- Married-couple families refer to opposite-sex and same-sex married couples residing together
and any of their family members residing in the household.
-- Families maintained by women or men are made up of householders residing with one or more
family members but no spouse of either sex present. Unmarried domestic partners of either sex
may or may not be present in the household.
This news release presents data for two marital status categories, defined below. Marital status is
based on a person's status at the time of the survey.
Total married, spouse present.
Married, spouse present, includes people in either opposite-sex or same-sex marriages living together
in the same household, even though one may be temporarily absent on business, on vacation, on a visit,
in a hospital, or for other reasons.
Other marital status. Other marital status includes people who are never married; widowed; divorced;
separated; and married, spouse absent. Separated includes people with legal separations, those living
apart with intentions of obtaining a divorce, and other people permanently or temporarily separated
because of marital discord. Married, spouse absent, includes married people living apart because
either a husband or wife was employed and living at a considerable distance from home, was serving
away from home in the Armed Forces, had moved to another area, or had a different place of residence
for any other reason except separation as defined above.
Children.Data on children refer to own children under age 18 that live in the household. Included are
biological, step-, and adopted children of the husband, wife, or person maintaining the family. Not
included are nieces, nephews, grandchildren, other related children, and all unrelated children living
in the household. Children not living in the household also are not included.
Parents. Data on parents refer to people living in a household with their own children under age 18.
(This includes those living with biological, step-, and adopted children.)
Employed. Employed people are all those who, during the survey reference week, (a) did any work at
all as paid employees; (b) worked in their own business, profession, or on their own farm; or
(c) worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated by a member of the family.
People who were temporarily absent from their jobs because of illness, vacation, labor disputes, or
another reason also are counted as employed.
Full-time workers. Full-time workers are those who usually work 35 hours or more per week
at all jobs.
Part-time workers.
Part-time workers are those who usually work fewer than 35 hours per week at all jobs.
Unemployed. The unemployed are people who had no employment during the reference week, were
available for work at that time, 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 be looking for work to be classified as unemployed.
Civilian labor force. The civilian labor force comprises all people classified as employed
or unemployed.
Labor force participation rate. The labor force participation rate is the number of people
in the labor force as a percent of the population.
Employment-population ratio. The employment-population ratio is the number of employed people
as a percent of the population.
Unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed people as a percent of
the civilian labor force.
Reliability of the estimates
Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling and nonsampling error. When a sample, rather
than the entire population, is surveyed, there is a chance that the sample estimates may differ from
the true population values they represent. The exact difference, or sampling error, varies depending on
the particular sample selected, and this 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 errors from the true population value because of sampling error. BLS
analyses are generally conducted at the 90-percent level of confidence.
The CPS data also are affected by nonsampling error. Nonsampling error can occur for many reasons,
including the failure to sample a segment of the population, inability to obtain information for all
respondents in the sample, inability or unwillingness of respondents to provide correct information,
and errors made in the collection or processing of the data.
Information about the reliability of data from the CPS and guidance on estimating standard errors are
available at www.bls.gov/cps/methods/reliability-of-CPS-estimates.htm.
Comparability of the estimates
Effective with data for 2020, estimates of the number of married people refer to those in opposite-sex
and same-sex marriages. Prior to 2020, estimates of the number of married people referred to those
in opposite-sex marriages only. The definition of families incorporated this change by expanding the
definition of married-couple families to include same-sex married couples. This new classification
resulted in a larger estimate of the number of people who are married with a spouse present. It also
resulted in a larger estimate of the number of married-couple families and the total number of families.
In addition, the data presented in this news release are not strictly comparable with data for earlier
years due to the introduction of updated population estimates, or controls, used in the CPS. The population
controls are updated each year in January to reflect the latest information about population change.
Additional information is available from the BLS website at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#pop.
United States Department of Labor
