# Are weights necessary if we are just computing frequency percentages for the Race and Occupation variables ?

**URL:** https://forum.ipums.org/t/are-weights-necessary-if-we-are-just-computing-frequency-percentages-for-the-race-and-occupation-variables/549
**Category:** USA
**Created:** [June 5, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/are-weights-necessary-if-we-are-just-computing-frequency-percentages-for-the-race-and-occupation-variables/549 "2014-06-05T20:07:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![jmedeiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/65b543/32.png) [@jmedeiros](https://forum.ipums.org/u/jmedeiros)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/are-weights-necessary-if-we-are-just-computing-frequency-percentages-for-the-race-and-occupation-variables/549/1 "2014-06-05T20:07:00Z")

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Are weights necessary if we are just computing frequency percentages for the Race and Occupation variables from 1980-2012?

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### Author: ![grover](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.ipums.org/grover/32/5_2.png) [@grover](https://forum.ipums.org/u/grover)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/are-weights-necessary-if-we-are-just-computing-frequency-percentages-for-the-race-and-occupation-variables/549/2 "2014-06-06T16:45:00Z")

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While some of the IPUMS-USA datasets are [flat samples](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/faq#ques8), the years you are interested in require the use of weights due to the complex [sample designs](https://usa.ipums.org/usa/chapter2/chapter2.shtml) employed in the creation of the datasets. The Census Bureau recommends using the weights to generate representative statistics.

I hope this helps.