I am working with the 2010 occupation classification system and have found a mismatch between the occupation Solar Photovoltaic Installers and the code.
These the two sources below say that the occupation code for Solar Photovoltaic Installers is 6530
However, these other two sources below say that the code is 6540
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. It does appear that these labels were inadvertently switched. In the 2011-2019 samples, OCC = 6530 should refer to structural iron and steel workers while OCC = 6540 are solar photovoltaic installers. I have alerted the CPS team to this issue so that it can be addressed.
I recently downloaded IPUMS-CPS ASEC and Basic Monthly samples for 2007-2023 to investigate construction trade occupations including Solar Photovoltaic Installers (OCC=6540). I’m seeing that there are a few dozen observation of solar PV installers in 2011 and 2012, but then 0 observations in 2013-2019. Is it possible solar PV installers were captured in a different occupation code during these years or aggregated with other occupations? Any insights would be much appreciated. Thank you!
The occupation code for solar photovoltaic installers (6540) was first made available in the 2010 Census Bureau occupation classification scheme (see this document for a complete list of codes). The 2010 occupation classification scheme was first applied in the May 2012 CPS, and was applied through the December 2019 CPS. In January 2020, the new 2020 occupation classification scheme was applied. So, the code for solar photovoltaic installers was theoretically part of the occupation classification scheme for CPS samples from May 2012 through December 2019.
However, looking at the ASEC codebooks from 2012 and 2013, it looks like after 2012, the code was was amalgamated into the 6765 code, which has label “Miscellaneous construction and related workers, including photovoltaic installers.” This can occur for a few different reasons, but the most likely reason is that there were very few respondents in those samples of the CPS that reported photovoltaic installer as their occupation.
I have a similar question about “reinforcing iron and rebar workers” OCC=6500. In the IPUMS-CPS ASEC and Basic Monthly samples for 2007-2023 I’m seeing observations for this occupation for 2007-2019 only. Is it possible or likely that code 6500 was also amalgamated into 6765 “miscellaneous construction and related workers, including PV installers” for 2020 and beyond? Or some other amalgamation, perhaps? I believe the ACS-PUMS combined 6220 (brickmasons, blockmasons, and stonemasons) and 6500 (reinforcing iron and rebar workers) beginning in 2012, for example. Thanks again for any insights you can provide.
The occupation codes applied to CPS samples from 2011-2019 use the 2010 Census classification scheme, while the occupation codes applied to CPS samples from 2020 onward use the 2018 Census classification scheme. The schemes are based on different versions of the Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) codes, which are periodically updated to capture changes in occupations. IPUMS makes very few edits to the occupation categories that appear in the original CPS data. The 2018 Census occupation classification scheme documentation includes the code 6500, “Reinforcing iron and rebar workers” (see page 12 of this document). However, in the CPS data dictionaries from 2020 and 2023 (which cover samples from 2020-present), I see that code 6500 was absorbed into code 6220, “Brickmasons, blockmasons, stonemasons, and reinforcing iron and rebar workers.”
6220 47-2XXX Brickmasons, blockmasons, stonemasons, and reinforcing iron and rebar workers Combines: 47-2020 6220 - Brickmasons, blockmasons, and stonemasons 47-2171 6500 - Reinforcing iron and rebar workers
I would guess that after reviewing the CPS data, the Census Bureau consolidated some occupation codes that had very few observations. Then, we received the data from the Census Bureau with these consolidations already implemented. In summary, in order to make comparisons across samples, your reinforcing iron and rebar workers are coded OCC=6220 in samples from 2020 onward.
