1 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

Weighting in the 2010’s

Barry P. Steinberg & 

Sally E. Reyes-Morales

Consumer Expenditures Surveys

Microdata User’s Workshop

July 19, 2018
2 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

CE Weighting is Dynamic 

NOT Static
3 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

Major Changes This Decade

2010 Redesign

Annual Sampling vs. a 10 year Sample

State Level Weighting 

NonResponse (Unit) Variable 

revisions: 2014

Calibration Variable Revisions: 2017
4 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

The Impact of Weighting can be very

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

Impact of Weighting

 11,539 = Average of all Base Weights 

from Interview Survey 2016Q4 for all 

good interviews

 20,575 = Average of all FINLWT21 from 

Interview Survey 2016Q4 for all good 

interviews
6 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

2010 Redesign
7 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

2010 Redesign

 New sample of PSUs was introduced in 

2015

Based on 2010 census

21  23 Self Representing PSUs

54  52 Non Self Representing PSUs

16  16 Rural PSUs
8 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

Annual Sampling
9 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

Annual Sampling of Households Within PSUs

 Sample of households was chosen for 

an entire decade in previous designs

For 2000 design, the sample was chosen for 

2005-2014

 Selecting annually has advantage of 

being responsive to latest housing data 

Resulting in more accurate lists of addresses
10 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

State Level Weighting
11 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

State Level Weighting

 Can be provided for states with sufficient 

sample size and representative PSUs

 Experimental weights have been 

published for NJ, CA, and FL
12 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

Nonresponse Adjustment
13 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

Nonresponse Variable Background

 Adjusts weights of respondents to 

compensate for nonrespondents

 Aim is to reduce nonresponse bias which 

can be large when respondents and 

nonrespondents are different

 Success depends on having variables for 

both respondents and nonrespondents
14 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

Nonresponse Variables Before 2014

 Region of Country (4 Regions)

 Consumer Unit Size (4 Size Groupings)

 Tenure (2 Groupings)

 Race (2 Groupings)

 Rotation Group: Interview Survey Only: 

(4 Groupings)
15 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

Nonresponse Variables Starting in 2014

 Region of Country (4 Regions)

 Consumer Unit Size (4 Size Groupings)

 IRS Adjusted Gross Income by zip code which 

is publically available (3 Groupings)

 Number of Contact Attempts (4 Groupings)
16 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

Calibration Adjustment
17 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

Calibration Background

Adjust weights to known population totals from 

external source, Current Population Survey (CPS) 

in order to account for non-residential addresses 

and frame under coverage

CPS is largest BLS survey and is used to calculate 

the unemployment rates

Minimizes the change from Stage1 weight = Base 

weight*Noninterview adjustment and FINLWT21 

while satisfying the population totals constraints
18 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

Calibration Weighting Variables

 CPS controls are used for the following 

characteristics:

Total number of CUs

Homeowner CUs

14 age/race combinations

Census Region (4) -> Census Division (9) (starting in 2017)

Census Urban*Region (4) -> Census Urban*Division (9) 

(starting in 2017)
19 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov
20 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

Weighting Beyond the 2010’s

Linking address level information 

from alternative data sources 

Potential use in Nonresponse Adjustment
21 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

Thank You!

Barry P. Steinberg

(202)-691-6885

Steinberg.Barry@bls.gov

Sally E. Reyes-Morales

(202)-691-6880

Reyes-Morales.Sally@bls.gov

Mathematical Statistician

Consumer Expenditures Surveys