Bureau of Labor Statistics Makes
Changes to Its Current Population Survey

Those of you with a research bent will appreciate this tid bit. BLS has made some recent changes to its Current Population Survey (CPS), which could invalidate historical comparisons that you have been able to comfortably make up till now.

Monthly labor market data are based on two surveys: 1) the survey of establishments; and 2) the CPS, or the household survey. The establishment survey provides information on employment, hours and wages by industry, as supplied by companies and government entities. The household survey is used to develop labor force trends, including the unemployment rate and labor force characteristics for a variety of demographic groups. The advice from BLS is to use the establishment data until problems are resolved with the CPS series.

You should familiarize yourself with these changes if you use this data. Go here to read what BLS has to say, and then go here to hear what some economists are saying about the changes and their implications.