July 19 -- The Census Bureau invites public comment by September 17, 2024 regarding the proposed revision of the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS).
The Census Bureau plans to request clearance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the collection of data concerning the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to be conducted in conjunction with the February, March, and April Current Population Survey (CPS). The Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics sponsor this supplement, which had its beginnings in 1942. This collection is authorized under title 13, United States Code, sections 141 and 182; and title 29, United States Code, sections 1-9. The current clearance expires December 31, 2024.
The ASEC data collection questions and design will remain unchanged from its most recent collection in 2024, with the exception of a small number of additional questions on childcare. Adding questions on childcare to the ASEC is crucial to understanding the childcare landscape in the United States. While similar questions are asked on other federal surveys, the ASEC includes other measures of economic well-being, such as the official poverty and supplemental poverty measures. Including these additional questions will allow for more direct policy relevant analyses of the respondent group. Data gathered can provide valuable insights into the usage, accessibility, and difficulties faced by parents and caregivers, informing better policy outcomes. The data gathered would also advance research called for by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to improve the treatment of childcare in the supplemental poverty measure. A deeper understanding of these childcare dynamics can also help identify gaps and enhance family well-being.
Information on work experience, personal income, noncash benefits, current and previous year health insurance coverage, employer-sponsored insurance take-up, and migration is collected through the ASEC. The work experience items in the ASEC provide a unique measure of the dynamic nature of the labor force as viewed over a one-year period. These items produce statistics that show movements in and out of the labor force by measuring the number of periods of unemployment experienced by people, the number of different employers worked for during the year, the principal reasons for unemployment, and part-/full-time attachment to the labor force. We can make indirect measurements of discouraged workers and others with a casual attachment to the labor market.
The income data from the ASEC are used by social planners, economists, government officials, and market researchers to gauge the economic well-being of the country as a whole, and selected population group of interest. Government planners and researchers use these data to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of various assistance programs. Market researchers use these data to identify and isolate potential customers. Social planners use these data to forecast economic conditions and to identify special groups that seem to be especially sensitive to economic fluctuations. Economists use ASEC data to determine the effects of various economic forces, such as inflation, recession, recovery, and so on, and their differential effects on various population groups.
The ASEC is the official source of national poverty estimates calculated in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget's Statistical Policy Directive 14. Two other important national estimates derived from the ASEC are real median household income and the number and percent of individuals without health insurance coverage.
The ASEC also contains questions related to (1) medical expenditures; (2) presence and cost of a mortgage on property; (3) child support payments; and (4) amount of childcare assistance received. These questions enable analysts and policymakers to obtain better estimates of family and household income, and more precisely gauge poverty status.
The ASEC information will be collected by both personal visit and telephone interviews in conjunction with the regular February, March and April CPS interviewing. All interviews are conducted using computer-assisted interviewing.
CPS ASEC:
https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/time-series/demo/cps/cps-asec.html
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2024-15935