1997 Work Experience of the Population — 1998-11-25

A total of 143.2 million persons worked at some time during 1997, according to the annual survey of work experience released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. This was 1.8 million above the level of the previous year. The number who experienced some unemployment declined by 1.2 million, to 15.6 million. Work experience data, which relate to labor force activity during an entire calendar year, are collected each March from supplemental questions asked as part of the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly survey of about 50,000 households conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Additional information on the annual survey, including concepts and definitions, is provided in the Technical Note beginning on page 3. Highlights from the survey for 1997 are: --Seventy percent of the working-age population 16 years of age and older were engaged in some work activity during 1997, up slightly from 1996.