Title
Current Population Survey, March/April 1988 Match Files [electronic resource] Alimony and Child Support United States. Bureau of the Census, United States Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Summary
This data collection is comprised of responses from the March and April installments of the 1988 Current Population Survey (CPS). Both the March and April surveys used two sets of questions, the basic CPS and a separate supplement for each month. The CPS, administered monthly, is a labor force survey providing current estimates of the economic status and activities of the population of the United States. Specifically, the CPS provides estimates of total employment (both farm and nonfarm), nonfarm self-employed persons, domestics, and unpaid helpers in nonfarm family enterprises, wage and salaried employees, and estimates of total unemployment. In addition to the basic CPS questions, respondents were asked supplemental questions in March about the economic situation of persons and families for the previous year. About 39,000 of the housing units interviewed in March were interviewed again in April. In these housing units, all women aged 15 and older, who had children, were asked the April CPS supplemental questions. These questions concerned child support and alimony payments. Of the 42,867 women found eligible in March, 36,647 of these women matched women interviewed in April. For the remaining 6,220 women interviewed in March, the child support and alimony information was imputed. Information regarding child support and alimony was collected to determine the size and distribution of the female population with children affected by divorce or separation. Moreover, the data were collected to better understand the characteristics of persons requiring child support and alimony, and to help develop and maintain programs designed to assist in obtaining child support. These data highlight alimony and child support arrangements made at the time of separation or divorce, amount of payments actually received, and value and type of any property settlement. This collection also contains data covering nine noncash income sources: food stamps, school lunch program, employer-provided group health insurance, employer-provided pension plan, personal health insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS) and energy assistance. Demographic variables include age, sex, race, marital status, veteran status, educational attainment, occupation, and income. Data on employment and income refer to the preceding year, although other demographic data refer to the time at which the survey was administered. Cf: http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR04377.v1