DOI: 10.3886/icpsr24562.v1
title: Current Population Survey, January 2008: Displaced Workers, Employee Tenure, and Occupational Mobility Supplement
title: Version 1

description: This data collection is comprised of responses from two sets of survey questionnaires, the basic Current Population Survey (CPS) and a survey administered as a supplement to the January CPS questionnaire on the topic of displaced workers, employee tenure, and occupational mobility in the United States. The CPS, administered monthly, collects labor force data about the civilian noninstitutional population living in the United States. Moreover, the CPS provides current estimates of the economic status and activities of this population which includes estimates of total employment (both farm and nonfarm), nonfarm self-employed persons, domestics, and unpaid helpers in nonfarm family enterprises, wage and salaried employees, and estimates of total unemployment. Data from the CPS are provided for the week prior to the administration of the survey. All persons eligible for the labor force items of the basic CPS were also eligible for the supplement. The supplement was designed to be a proxy response supplement, meaning a single respondent could provide answers for all eligible household members, provided the respondent was a household member 15 years of age or older. Persons 20 years of age and older, who lost or left a job in the last three years for selected reasons, were eligible for the first part of the supplement, which consists of the displaced workers items. Employed persons 15 years of age and older were eligible for the second part of the supplement, which consists of the employee tenure and occupational mobility items. Respondents were queried on involuntary job loss within the last three years based on operating decisions of a firm, plant, or business, reasons for job displacement, industry and occupation of the former job, group health insurance coverage, job tenure, and weekly earnings. Additional data refer to periods of unemployment as well as number of jobs held, use of unemployment benefits, whether residence was changed to seek work in another area, and current health insurance coverage. Although the main purpose of the survey was to collect information on an individual's employment situation, a very important secondary purpose was to collect information on demographic characteristics such as age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, veteran status, educational attainment, family relationship, occupation, and income.
description: There are two supplement weights associated with the January 2008 Displaced Worker and Employee Tenure supplement. The first weight-PWSUPWGT-should be used to tally the displaced worker items. The second weight- PWTENWGT-should be used for tallying the employee tenure section of the supplement.The data also contain seven additional Basic CPS weight variables: Household Weight-HWHHWGT-Used for tallying household characteristics.; Family Weight-PWFMWGT-Used only for tallying family characteristics.; Longitudinal Weight-PWLGWGT-Found only on adult records matched from month to month (used for gross flows analysis).; Outgoing Rotation Weight-PWORWGT-Used for tallying information collected only in outgoing rotations.; Final Weight-PWSSWGT-Used for most tabulations, controlled to independent estimates for 1) States; 2) Origin, Sex, and Age; and 3) Age, Race, and Sex.; Veteran's Weight-PWVETWGT-Used for tallying veteran's data only.; Composited Final Weight-PWCMPWGT-Used to create BLS's published labor force statistics.; Users are strongly encouraged to refer to the User Guide for detailed information on how to use the weights, as well as how they were derived.
description: Datasets: 
 
 DS1: Dataset
description: Current Population Survey Series
description: computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI), computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) 
Users are strongly encouraged to read the User Guide, which contains the questionnaire for the supplement, as well as additional technical documentation regarding the study design, sampling frame used, and response rates.
The universe statements for each variable are defined in the basic and supplement record layouts found in Attachment 6 and 7, respectively, of the User Guide.
Due to a programming error in the January 2008 survey instrument, displacement information was not obtained from respondents who were veterans age 65 and over. Missing data for these individuals were imputed using information collected from respondents who were veterans age 65 and over in the January 2006 Displaced Worker Supplement.
description: The CPS universe consists of all persons aged 15 years and older in the civilian noninstitutional population living in households of the United States. The population defined as institutionalized was comprised of individuals in correctional institutions and nursing homes. The January 2008 supplement contains two distinct universes. The first universe comprises all persons 20 years of age and older who had been displaced from a job in the past three years. The second universe consists of each household member 15 years of age and older who was employed during reference week.
description: A multistage probability sample, based on the 2000 decennial census, was selected to represent the universe of approximately 56,000 households.