Are the variables/questions SAMEJOB, CHDUTY, AND SAMEACT found in the CPS data?

CPS
1

In the paper - Occupational and job mobilityin the US - by Moscarini and Thomsson they state that;

"to reduce the interview burden and the possibility of misclassification a number of changes were introduced in 1994. Most importantly, “dependent coding” (sometimes referred to as "dependent interviewing) was introduced. Individuals interviewed in successive months were asked the following questions:

  1. “SAMEJOB”. Last month, it was reported that (name/you) worked for

(input company name). (Do/Does) (you/he/she) still work for (input

company name) at (your/his/her) main job?

• Yes (ask next question)

• No, Don’t know, Refused (skip to independent industry/occupation

questions)

  1. “CHDUTY”. Have the usual activities and duties of (your/his/her) job

changed since last month?

• Yes (skip to independent industry/occupation questions)

• No, Don’t know, Refused (ask next question)

  1. “SAMEACT”. Last month (name/you) (was/were) reported as (a/an)

(input occupation) and (your/his/her) usual activities were (input

duties 1) (input duties 2). Is this an accurate description of (your/his/her)

current job?

• Yes, Don’t know, Refused (end series and use dependent coding)

• No (skip to independent industry/occupation questions)

and if dependent coding was used, then the same occupation as in the

previous month was automatically assigned."

I haven’t been able to obtain a response from the authors on where they obtained these variables. They state that these questions were asked in the CPS data but they aren’t listed in the variable list nor do I see them nested under any other variable. Do you know how they came to obtain this information?

Thank you!

2

The variables that Moscarini and Thomsson refer to are indeed included in the CPS data, but under the names puiodp1, puiodp2, and puiodp3. You can see the variables on page 63 of the 1994 record layout. The variable names have not changed since their conception in 1994, so it is possible that the researchers renamed them to something more informative as they were conducting their research.

While IPUMS-CPS is constantly expanding the variables we offer, puiodp1 is the only variable out the three that is made available (EMPSAME). However since the NBER and IPUMS-CPS files share a common sort order, you can sequentially merge the data files (i.e. first NBER observation to first IPUMS-CPS observation, second to second, etc.) to use puiodp2 and puiodp3 alongside the integrated variables offered in IPUMS-CPS. I recommend checking values of sex, age, and race before and after merging the data.

I hope this helps!

3

Hi, I’ve tried searching for puiodp1 as the answer above suggested it was avaialble but have had no joy - do you know how i find it?

4

I believe the ‘puiodp1’ variable is available in IPUMS CPS under EMPSAME. Sorry for the confusion.