JUNE 13, 2024  — The U.S. Census Bureau today announced plans to modernize the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) of the Current Population Survey (CPS).  The CPS, which is sponsored jointly by the Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), is the primary source of labor force statistics in the nation, a key Principal Federal Economic Indicator (PFEI). In addition to providing data on the labor force status of the population, the CPS is used to collect data for a variety of studies on the entire U.S. population and specific population subsets. These studies, or supplemental surveys, keep the nation informed of the economic and social well-being of its people and are used by federal and state agencies, private foundations, and other organizations. ASEC is one of more than a dozen supplemental surveys that is part of the CPS, and provides the nation’s Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage statistics.

Some of the improvements under consideration and planned to enhance the ASEC include:

• Addition of an Internet Self-Response (ISR) mode.
• Potential questionnaire content updates.
• Operational changes.
• Building upon use of administrative records. 

The biggest planned enhancement to the ASEC is the addition of an Internet Self Response (ISR) mode as part of the overall Current Population Survey (CPS) modernization. Responses to the basic monthly CPS and the ASEC are collected at the same time, or during the same “interview,” so it is important to collect the data using the same method or “mode.”

While ISR will be an additional mode option, much of the data for both CPS and the ASEC will still be collected by interviewers via Computer Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI).

Questions posed in ISR mode will be adapted and simplified to ensure respondents understand and respond to them accurately. CPS procedures will determine which households complete the survey via ISR or CAPI. 

The Census Bureau is also reviewing current ASEC topics and considering content updates. Among them:

• Income:
  • Separating tips/gratuities from other types of earned income to better understand the economic situations of tipped workers.
  • Simplifying the questionnaire.
• Poverty:
  • Changing how respondents are asked about child care costs:
    • Testing questions about types of child care received and expanding school lunch questions to include school breakfast.
• Health insurance coverage:
  • Removing some questions to focus on questions that directly affect the key estimates.
• Migration:
  • Simplifying response categories.

The last major content update to the CPS ASEC was in 2014.

In addition to modernizing how we collect data, the Census Bureau is planning to modernize how it collects, stores and processes data. These operational changes would include switching to a new data collection software and other systems to our new Census Bureau Business Ecosystem. 

The final component of these enhancements is to begin incorporating the use of administrative records in our data analysis and data products. This will not only improve data processing procedures but may also reduce the burden on respondents by using information already provided.

Much of this initial research for these enhancements is being undertaken by the National Experimental Wellbeing Statistics (NEWS) team and may be adapted later into producing official statistics and data products.

The Census Bureau has a preliminary 5-year timeline for researching, analyzing and testing these enhancements. For Fiscal Year 2024, the Census Bureau is conducting exploratory interviews, cognitive interviews, and testing using the Demographic High-Frequency Survey (DHFS).

The Census Bureau and BLS launched a joint effort last year to modernize the CPS and its supplements to enhance data products and ensure the survey’s sustainability.

The Census Bureau and BLS are holding a joint webinar series to share updates and lay the groundwork for improvements to the CPS. The webinars will provide important details about challenges faced and plans to implement improvements to ensure the data produced continue to meet the Census Bureau’s rigorous quality standards. The Census Bureau and BLS will continue to engage stakeholders and provide updates as the project moves forward. For more information about CPS modernization efforts and the webinar series, visit CPS Modernization Efforts and the press kit.

###