1

Adding COVID-19 Questions to the 

Current Population Survey (CPS)

Emy Sok – Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Karen Kosanovich - Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Tim Marshall – Census Bureau 

FCSM, September 2020
2 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

Objectives

■ Describe basic CPS background 

■ Discuss the development of new questions 

■ Provide an overview of the programming, testing, and fielding 

of the new questions 

■ Point you to highlights of the data
3 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

Current Population Survey (CPS)

■ Primary source of information on the U.S. labor force, 

employment, and unemployment 

■ Provides labor force data by a wide variety of demographic 

and job characteristics 

■ Monthly survey of about 60,000 households collected inperson and by phone (with both self and proxy response) 

■ Data published about 2 weeks after collection 

■ Joint venture by BLS and Census Bureau
4 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

Can you add questions to a major federal survey in 2 

months?

■ Clear need for additional information about the labor market 

that CPS could provide 

■ Precedent of adding questions to track Hurricane Katrina 

evacuees 

■ Different constraints and challenges this time 

■ Budget and increased respondent burden are important to 

consider
5 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

Constraints for adding questions

■ Development of questions began in mid-March, during a 

maximum telework posture across the federal government 

■ Specific criteria for development 

!Only four questions 

!Simple questions without complex skip patterns or fills 

!Fielded in May, with ongoing collection 

!Supplement data already available from the CPS and be able 

to shed light on labor market effects of the pandemic
6 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

Unique challenges

■ Work being done very quickly in all-telework environment 

■ Pandemic still emerging and evolving during development 

! Craft questions to endure without knowing future needs or relevancy

! What terminology were people using?

■ Regular processing of the survey and changing labor market 

conditions also consuming resources
7 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

COVID question topics

■ Telework 

■ People unable to work due to (temporary) pandemic-related 

shutdowns 

■ Pay status of those unable to work 

■ People unable to look for work 

■ Activity “in the last 4 weeks”
8 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

Beyond the questions

■ Emergency OMB authorization 

■ Programming the questions (Census) 

■ Testing the questions 

■ Publication plan
9 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

Cognitive testing

■ New questions are tested by BLS survey methodologists to 

conform with OMB guidelines for statistical surveys 

■ Traditional testing not an option this time 

■ Expert review provided by BLS staff before submitting 

questions to Census 

■ Limited testing pursued after questions were fielded
LOGISTICS OF FIELDING NEW 

QUESTIONS

1. Starting Block: Questionnaire 

2. Develop a Data Collection Instrument 

3. Test the Data Collection Instrument 

4. Train the Field Representatives and Staff 

5. Collect the Information 

6. Edit the Resulting Data

10
The Starting Block 

✓Questions developed and tested by industry experts 

✓Final questions decided and provided to the Census Bureau 

✓Who gets what question? 

✓Skip paths included

11
Data Collection Instrument:

Options to Consider Prior to Programming

Do we program the new questions as part of the “Core CPS” set of 

questions? 

Prefer to avoid disruptions to the Core CPS flow, if possible. 

Do we program them as a “supplemental collection” to the CPS? 

Not as a true “supplement” (such as Disability, Veterans) 

As a stand-alone block of questions, separated from the Core.

12
Placement of the New Questions

✓Considered simultaneously with the previous options (part of the Core 

vs. as a supplement)

Place new questions in the Front, Middle, or End, or the Basic Core 

CPS?

o Decided to place them at the end of the CPS

o After all eligible persons completed the labor force section

New questions’ reference period differed from Basic Core CPS, thus 

dictating the placement.

13
Incorporating the Questions into the 

CPS Instrument

Converted questionnaire into Instrument Specs quickly 

BLAISE® Instrument programmed, ready for testing 

Programmed within a few days 

Testing began immediately

14
Testing the Instrument

Created “scenarios” necessary for proper testing 

 Employed, Unemployed, Not in Labor Force went down 

different paths

 Ensured accurate output data from the instrument

Conducted an ‘in-house’ systems test 

 To ensure various data processing systems ran without error

 To ensure accurate data output after data processing

New questions successfully incorporated into the CPS in 

May 2020

15
How the Questions appear within the CPS 

Instrument - Telework

16
How the Questions appear within the 

CPS Instrument – Employer Closed

17
How the Questions appear within the 

CPS Instrument – Paid for Lost Work

18
How the Questions appear within the CPS 

Instrument – Prevent Looking for Work

19
How the Questions appear within the 

CPS Instrument – Need Medical Care

20
Field Representative Instructions

To explain the purpose of the new questions and uses 

of the resulting data 

Quick development needed for use prior to May 

interviews 

Inform Regional Office Management

21
The Finish Line: 

Editing the Resulting Data

For Unit and Item Nonresponse, Allocation performed 

Edited data (from May collection) provided for the 

first time, in mid-June 

For June data collection, edited data provided soon 

after June collection

22
23— U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

Further steps

■ Weighting, allocation, and editing 

■ Publication 

! Develop tables

! Review data

! Develop standard errors

! Analysis

! Integrate into Employment Situation news release
24— U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

Publishing data from the new questions

■ BLS first published data for the first 4 questions online 

!www.bls.gov/cps/effects-of-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic.htm

■ Data for May and June were published together, with new 

monthly data added for July 

■ Data for August were added to the monthly Employment 

Situation news release
25

www.bls.gov/cps/effects-of-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic.htm 

CPS at BLS 

cpsinfo@bls.gov 

CPS at the Census Bureau 

dsd.cps@census.gov 

Contact Information