Annual work experience data are an important part of our statistical data base about the Nation's labor supply. Unlike point-in-time estimates of employment and unemployment, work experience data tell us not only how many people worked in the course of a year, but how much they worked. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that in 1985 while 107.1 million persons were employed, on average, each month, 123.5 million had some work experience during the year. In addition, the work experience data reveal that 72.4 million persons worked 50 to 52 weeks, usually 35 hours or more a week, or full time (Smith, 1987). Clearly, we obtain a different perspective on the labor force activity of our population from work experience data than we do from monthly labor force estimates.

The Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly household survey of approximately 59,500 households, provides us with this retrospective view annual work experience. The CPS, which is conducted by the Census Bureau for the BLS, is also the source of the official monthly employment and unemployment estimates. In the March supplement to the monthly labor force questions, a battery of retrospective questions are asked of household respondents about their labor force activity in the previous calendar year. This means respondents are reporting on their employment and unemployment experiences which occurred between 3 and 15 months ago.