This report presents statistics on the demographic, social, and economic status of the civilian noninstitutional Black population in the United States, based on the March 1999 Current Population Survey (CPS). Topics include geographic distribution, age and sex distribution, family type and size, educational attainment, labor force participation and unemployment, occupation, family income, and poverty status.

The Black Population in the United States: March 1999 (Update)
These tables present data on the demographic, social, and economic characteristics of the Black population in the United States from the March 1999 supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS). Topics covered include geographic distribution, age and sex distribution, family type and family size, educational attainment, labor force participation and unemployment, occupational characteristics, family income, and poverty status. Data are presented for the United States. Tables 1-16 provide data for the Black and the non-Hispanic White populations

A paper version of these tables is available as PPL-130 for $22.00. The previous tabulation package entitled "The Black Population in the United States: March 1998 (Update)" is also available as PPL-103 for $28.40. To receive a paper copy of one or both of these tabulations, send your request along with a check or money order in the amount of $22.00 for PPL-130, $28.40 for PPL-103, or $50.40 for both, payable to Commerce-Census-88-00-9010, to U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, P.O. Box 277 943, Atlanta, GA, 30384-7943.

NOTE: Percentages are rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent; therefore, the percentages in a distribution do not always add to exactly 100 percent. The totals, however, are always shown as 100. Moreover, individual figures are rounded to the nearest thousand without being adjusted to group totals, which are independently rounded; percentages are based on the unrounded numbers.

Source of Data
The estimates in this report come from data obtained in March 1999 from the Current Population Survey (CPS). The Census Bureau conducts the CPS every month, although this report uses only data from the March survey.

Accuracy of the Estimates
Statistics from surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. All comparisons presented in this report have taken sampling errors into account and meet Census Bureau standards for statistical significance. Nonsampling errors in surveys may be attributed to a variety of sources, such as how the survey was designed, how respondents interpret questions, how able and willing respondents are to provide correct answers, and how accurately the answers are coded and classified. The Census Bureau employs quality control procedures throughout the production process - including the overall design of surveys, the wording of questions, review of the work of interviewers and coders, and statistical review of reports. The Current Population Survey employs ratio estimation, whereby sample estimates are adjusted to independent estimates of the national population by age, race, sex, and Hispanic origin. This weighting partially corrects for bias due to undercoverage, but how it affects different variables in the survey is not precisely known. Moreover, biases may also be present when people who are missed in the survey differ from those interviewed in ways other than the categories used in weighting (age, race, sex, and Hispanic origin). All of these considerations affect comparisons across different surveys or data sources.