Current Population Survey — Supplemental Estimates

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 chosen to represent all counties and independent cities in the United States, with coverage in 50 States and the District of Columbia.

Union data are available for all workers — members of unions and those represented by unions — with data available by age, race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, sex, occupation, industry, state, and full- or part-time status. Median weekly earnings data are also available for members of unions, workers represented by unions, and non-union workers, with data available by age, race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, sex, occupation, industry, and full- or part-time status.

The union membership and 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. Earnings data are measured in weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary workers. Median earnings figures indicate the value that divides the earnings distribution into two equal parts, 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).

Annual averages are available for all series. Updates are usually available with the issuance of the union membership news release.

References: Employment and Earnings, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics