The employment status (employed or unemployed) of each individual in the U.S. workforce is a set of data that is of interest to economists, businesspeople, and sociologists. To obtain information about the employment status of the workforce, the U.S. Bureau of the Census conducts what is known as the Current Population Survey. Each month interviewers visit about 60,000 of the 128 million households in the United States and question the occupants 15 years of age or older about their employment status. Their responses enable the Bureau of the Census to estimate the percentage of people in the labor force who are unemployed (the unemployment rate).

a. Define the population of interest to the Census Bureau.

b. What variable is being measured? Is it quantitative or qualitative?

c. Is the problem of interest to the Census Bureau descriptive or inferential?