Are data for CPS before 1989 available in STATA format?

CPS
1

I am looking for CPS monthly data for years before 1989 in STATA format and I could not find them anywhere. Are they available on IPUMS?

2

Prior to 1989, IPUMS-CPS provides only the March CPS samples, which can be downloaded in STATA format. We are also working on integrating Basic Monthly samples back to 1976, which will likely be released in batches over the next couple of years.

NBER does make available the Basic Monthly Data and Supplement files in ASCII format from 1976-2015, but their STATA command files are not available prior to 1989. Additionally at NBER, you can find STATA-formatted files for the Merged Outgoing Rotation Groups data from 1979-2014 and the May Extracts data from 1969-1987.

Sorry I could not be of more direct assistance.

3

Dear Tim,

thanks a lot for your response. I am currently working on the dictionary files for those years and I will be happy to share the codes for a second check. I believe that this could be helpful for both me and the institution.

For now I am working on the years 1986-1989 and I will proceed backward.

Let me know if you might be interested.

Best wishes

Vincenzo Scrutinio

4

Thank you very much for your willingness to share your work with us. We process the IPUMS files in a fixed-width ASCII format using a program that heavily depends on our internally-generated metadata structures. Unfortunately, this would make it unlikely that your STATA code would easily fit into our existing system. However, if you feel comfortable sharing your dictionary files, you can attach them to a response on this thread for both us and other CPS users to use and check.

Thanks again for the offer to share your code!

5

Dear Vincenzo,

Have you succeeded to put the monthly files before 1989 in stata format? In case you feel comfortable sharing your dofiles I would be interested, and I would provide a double check.

V.