# CPS Data Panel Structure

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/cps-data-panel-structure/5232>\
**Category:** CPS\
**Created:** [April 18, 2023, 5:07am UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/cps-data-panel-structure/5232 "2023-04-18T05:07:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Muhammad\_Taj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Muhammad\_Taj](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Muhammad_Taj)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 5:07am UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/cps-data-panel-structure/5232/1 "2023-04-18T05:07:20Z")

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Hi all, I am working with the CPS monthly data (2018-2021) downloaded from IPUMS website. I am trying to make it panel in Stata using the xtset command. However, I am confused as to how should I go about it? I know that cpsidp is a variable that uniquely identifies the individuals but we also know that cps is a rotating panel so we can not just use “xtset cpsidp year /month” as it will have repeated values within time. Let me know how it works. Thank you!

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**Author:** ![Ivan\_Strahof](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.ipums.org/ivan_strahof/32/626_2.png) [@Ivan\_Strahof](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Ivan_Strahof)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/cps-data-panel-structure/5232/2 "2023-04-25T19:27:18Z")

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You can use [CPSIDP](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/CPSIDP#description_section) as your panel variable as it does not contain repeated values within a single time period. Individuals appear only once within a given monthly sample and eight times total across the 16-month panel.