Overview: February 1995 Contingent Work Survey

I. General

Census Bureau staff conducted the February 1995 Contingent Work Survey as a supplement to that month's Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly labor force survey conducted in approximately 60,000 households across the Nation. A copy of the labor force questions asked each month as part of the basic CPS questions and a copy of the February 1995 Contingent Work questionnaire can be found in the Methodology and Documentation section.

A description of the CPS entitled "Overview--Current Population Survey is found in the Basic CPS section." A description of the February 1995 Contingent Work Survey follows.

II. Data Collection

Census Bureau staff conducted interviews during the period of February 19-25, 1995. This was a proxy-response supplement; that is, a single respondent could provide answers for all eligible household members, provided the respondent him/herself was a household member 15 years of age or older. We asked the supplement of each household member age 15 and older:

who had a job during reference week and worked for pay or profit, or

who did not have a job during reference week but looked for work during the last year and was available for work during reference week.

We did not ask the supplement of unpaid family workers and persons not looking for work (this includes persons not in the labor force and unemployed persons on layoff who are not looking for work).

Interviewers received a 2-hour self-study that contained exercises on the basic labor force questions, item-by-item instructions for the supplement, supplement exercises, and practice interviews.

III. Data Processing

The data processing involved a consistency edit of all supplement items. The consistency edit mainly ensured that the entries within an individual record followed the correct skip patterns; items with missing entries were assigned values, if appropriate.

The data processing also involved the full allocation, by demographic characteristics, of missing earnings data.

The values and universe for each variable are defined in the supplement data dictionary found in the Data section.

IV. February 1995 CPS/Contingent Work Computer File

A. CPS Labor Force Data

The February 1995 CPS file contains 153,530 records. The CPS Basic Items record layout, which includes the variable name, character size, universe, and the possible values of each basic CPS variable included in the dataset is found in the Basic Monthly Survey Data section.

The variable PRPERTYP determines the type of person as follows:

PRPERTYP

1 = Child household member (0-14 years old)

2 = Adult civilian household member (15+ years old)

3 = Adult Armed Forces household member (15+ years old)

The variable HRINTSTA determines the interview status of the household:

HRINTSTA

1 = Interview

2 = Type A Noninterview (These records represent households that were eligible for the February 1995 CPS interview, but were not interviewed because no one was home, household members were temporarily absent, etc.)

3 = Type B Noninterview (These records represent sample addresses determined to be ineligible for the CPS by virtue of being vacant, demolished, nonresidential, etc.)

4 = Type C Noninterview (See explanation for Type B above.)

By combining the values of PRPERTYP (1-3) and HRINTSTA (2-4), the number of records can be determined.

The values of PRPERTYP are:

Unweighted Counts

1 = Child 31,978

2 = Adult civilian, 15+ 106,632

3 = Adult, Armed Forces 578

The values of HRINTSTA are:

1= Interview 53,874

2 = Type A Noninterview 3,860

3 = Type B Noninterview 10,063

4 = Type C Noninterview 419

B. February 1995 Contingent Work Supplement Data

The February supplement data are found in the February 1995 Data section.

C. Tallying the February 1995 Contingent Work Supplement File

The February 1995 supplement universe consists of each household member age 15 and older:

who had a job during reference week and worked for pay or profit, or

who did not have a job during reference week but looked for work during the last year and was available for work during reference week.

The variable PRSUPTYP determines the supplement interview status of each person:

PRSUPTYP

1= Interview

2 = Noninterview

D. Weighting

Use the supplement weight(PWSUPWGT) for tallying individuals on the file.

E. Unweighted Counts

A tally listing of unweighted counts from selected supplement items is in the Data section. Use these totals to ensure that the file is being accessed properly.

F. Special Recodes

The major goal of the Contingent Work Supplement was to produce estimates of the number of workers in contingent jobs; that is, jobs which are structured to last only a limited period of time. The supplement also helped develop three alternative estimates to assess the impact of different assumptions about which factors constitute contingent employment. (See recodes PRCONDF1, PRCONDF2, and PRCONDF3).

The narrowest estimate (PRCONDF1) includes only wage and salary workers who had been in their jobs for 1 year or less and expected their jobs to last for an additional year or less. The middle estimate (PRCONDF2) added the self-employed and independent contractors who were in a similar situation. In the third and broadest estimate (PRCONDF3), the limitation on how long workers had held their jobs and expected to remain in them was dropped for wage and salary workers; thus, this estimate includes almost any worker who believed his or her job was temporary or not expected to continue.

The supplement also produced estimates of the number of workers in several alternative employment arrangements, including those working as independent contractors and on-call workers, as well as those working through temporary help agencies or contract companies. (See recodes PRIC, PRCALL, PRTMPAGC, and PRCNTRCT).

G. Data Contact

For questions regarding the February 1995 Contingent Work data, call Tom Nardone at the Bureau of Labor Statistics on 202-606-6378.

Contingent Workers Supplement Public Use File Page

CPS Main Page