Continuous Longitudinal Manpower Surveys

The Continuous Longitudinal Manpower Survey (CLMS) data contain quarterly information for a randomly selected sample of individuals enrolled in programs under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA). The CLMS 2 file consists of data from the third quarter of 1975 through the second quarter of 1976, including participant background information, family information, use of public assistance programs, experiences in the CETA programs, work history, and labor market experiences.

The data come from CETA program records, from interviews with participants, and from social security earnings records. The participants were initially interviewed following CETA enrollment and provided information about themselves, their families, their work history for the previous year, as well as their income and use of public assistance, including Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), food stamps, and public housing. Up to three follow-up interviews were conducted with each participant, asking primarily about their experiences in the CETA programs, job training experiences, labor force experiences, the services they received, and their post-program use of public assistance.

The data file also includes:

• Information about program eligibility and termination
• Participation in employment training and other program activities
• Employment or unemployment spells, including wage information, how the individual found the job, reasons the individual could not find a job, and why the individual is no longer looking for work

Employment and earnings information are available for one year prior to CETA enrollment through the most recent interview, up to three years after enrollment. Annual reported social security earnings were merged with the other participant data and are available from 1951-1979. The CLMS 2 data file has 13,283 observations and 4,772 variables. Note the data provided do not include the matched CPS comparison group data.