DOI: 10.3886/icpsr29647.v1
title: Current Population Survey, August 2009: Veterans 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 biennial survey on the topic of veterans in the United States, which was administered as a supplement to the August 2009 CPS questionnaire. The sponsors of the Veterans Supplement were the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), formerly the Veterans Administration, and the Department of Labor.The CPS, administered monthly, is a labor force survey providing current estimates of the economic status and activities of the population of the United States. Specifically, the CPS provides 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 survey. All veterans aged 17 or older received questions from the Veterans Supplement, which provides estimates on the demographic and labor force characteristics of veterans who have a service-connected disability in comparison to all other veterans. The data also made distinctions between Gulf War era veterans and Vietnam theater veterans; the latter being veterans who served in Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia. Estimates were also provided on the number of veterans with or without a service-connected disability and their labor force participation rate, occupational distributions, unemployment rates, periods of military service, and use of certain educational and job training programs. The Veterans Supplement portion of the study was designed to be a self-response survey and general interviewers were instructed to make up to two personal or telephone callbacks before accepting a proxy interview.Demographic variables include age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, veteran status, educational attainment, occupation, and income.
description: All adult records retain the basic CPS weights, which controls for age, race, sex, and Hispanic origin estimates, and individual state estimates. The basic CPS final weight (PWSSWGT) should be used for tallying just labor force items. The veterans weight (PWVETWGT) should be used to tally any estimates from the Veterans Supplement data whether or not basic labor force items were used. The veterans weight should also be used to tally any estimates for veterans and nonveterans from the basic CPS. Users are strongly encouraged to refer to the User Guide for more information on additional weights used.
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 refer to the User Guide (produced by the Principal Investigators), which contains the questionnaire for the supplement, as well as additional detailed technical documentation regarding the study design, sampling frame used, and response rates.
The universe statements for each variable are defined in either the basic or supplement record layout, which is located in Attachment 6 and 7, respectively, of the User Guide.
ICPSR removed all FILLER and PADDING variables from the data. As a result, the column locations in any ICPSR-released data product (e.g., codebook and setup files) will have column locations that are not consistent with locations described in the User Guide.
description: The CPS universe consists of all persons in the civilian noninstitutional population of the United States living in households. The August 2009 supplement universe represents the full CPS sample comprising all household members aged 17 years and older.
description: A multistage probability sample was selected to represent the universe of approximately 56,000 households.