A question on the sex of individuals has been asked of the total population in every census.

Members of the Armed Forces and the civilian labor force as defined below.

Persons 16 years old and over who are not classified as members of the labor force. This category consists mainly of students, housewives, retired workers, seasonal workers enumerated in an "off" season who were not looking for work, inmates of institutions, disabled persons, and persons doing only incidental unpaid family work (fewer than 15 hours during the reference week). Also included are so called "discouraged workers" who do not have a job and have not been actively looking for work during the last four weeks. Inmates of institutions are occasionally presented as a subcategory within "not in labor force." Tasks performed by inmates of institutions are not considered "work" for the purposes of the census.

In addition to the above classification, the concept of Experienced Civilian Labor Force appears in certain detailed tabulations.

Employed persons and those unemployed persons who have worked at any time in the past, i.e., "experienced unemployed." (See Year Last Worked.) This concept serves as the universe for certain tabulations of occupation and industry where unemployed persons are to be included. (Occupation and industry data were not collected for persons who have never worked, or who have not worked since 1974.)

Because employment data from the census are obtained from respondents in households, they differ from statistics based on reports from individual business establishments, farm enterprises, and certain government programs. Persons employed at more than one job are counted only once in the census and are classified according to the job at which they worked the greatest number of hours during the reference week. In statistics based on reports from business and farm establishments, persons who work for more than one establishment may be counted more than once. Moreover, other series, unlike those presented here, may exclude private household workers, unpaid family workers, and self-employed persons, but may include workers less than 16 years of age.

In 1940, 1950, and 1960, labor force data were published for persons 14 years old and over. In 1970, most labor force data were for persons 16 years old and over to comply with the official Government definition of employed and unemployed instituted in 1967, although data on 14- and 15-year olds were furnished in 1970 to provide a comparability bridge with earlier censuses.

See also: "Hours Worked Last Week;" "Industry;" "Occupation;" "Labor Force Status In 1979," "Year Last Worked".

Persons who indicated "Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano," or wrote in an entry such as "La Raza."

Persons who indicated "Puerto Rican" or wrote in an entry such as "Boricua."

Persons who indicated "Cuban."

Persons who filled the circle for "other Spanish/Hispanic"; or persons who wrote in an origin or descent associated with Spain, the Dominican Republic, or any Central or South America country except Brazil or a nonspecific Spanish group such as "Spanish surnamed" or "Spanish speaking."

Preliminary evaluations of 1980 census data suggest some limited misreporting of Spanish origin.
Available evidence indicates that the misreporting mw have occurred only in selected areas with relatively small Spanish-origin populations, such as in some Southern States, but it is not apparent in those areas with the largest concentrations of Spanish-origin persons. For a fuller discussion of the reporting in the Spanish-origin item, see the forthcoming 1980 census Supplementary Report, "Persons of Spanish Origin by State: 1980" (PC80-Sl).

The Spanish-origin question was asked on a l00-percent basis for the first time in 1980. A similar question was asked on the 1970 5-percent sample questionnaire. For 1980, the category "No, not Spanish/Hispanic" appeared first (the corresponding category appeared last in 1970). Also, the terms "Mexican-American" and "Chicano" are added to the term "Mexican." The category "Central or South American," included in 1970, was dropped.

Although a question on Spanish origin was included in 1970, it was not the major identifier used to classify the Hispanic population in the 1970 census as it is in 1980. Depending on the section of the country, 1970 census data for "Persons of Spanish Heritage" were variously defined as "Persons of Puerto Rican Birth or Parentage" (in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania), as "Persons of Spanish language or Spanish Surname" (in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas), and as "Persons of Spanish Language" (in the remaining 42 States and the District of Columbia). "Spanish Language" referred to those persons who in 1970 reported Spanish as their mother tongue, as well as persons in families in which the household head or spouse reported Spanish as his or her mother tongue.