On the basis of their employment status or activity during the week of March 24 to 30, 1940, all persons 14 years old and over were classified into two large groups: (a) Persons in the labor force, including those employed (at work or with a job, except on public emergency work), those on public emergency work, and those seeking work; and (b) persons not in the labor force, including those engaged in own home housework, those in school, those unable to work, inmates of institutions, other persons not in the labor force, and those whose employment status was not reported.
In the interpretation of the data for persons on public emergency work, allowance must be made for the misclassification in the census returns of some public emergency workers, as a result of which the number of such workers is considerably understated.