CPS data -- possible changes since mid-1990s?

CPS
1

I would like to know whether the CPS data of the years 1985 - 1991 has been treated in any way since 1995. Has there been any harmonization or other changes to CPS data, i.e. when data was made accessible on the database? I have worked extensively on CPS data of the period 1985 - 1991 and summary statistics (such as age of respondends in the sample) in my data set are different from the summary statistics presented in a paper published in 1996 – this paper uses CPS data, yet it appears likely that back then CPS data was only accessible in a different format. Having ruled out other factors (with high degree of certainty) that could explain the differences I noted, I am looking for a clue concerning the history of CPS data. I would appreciate any hint as to where I can find information on how CPS data was made accessible in the mid-1990s (if that is different from today) and – most importantly – whether this could explain differences in summary statistics such as age.

Thank you!

2

I am afraid I do not know how/if the CPS data you are interested in changed in the mid 1990’s. I would recommend contacting the Census Bureau to see if they have records of any changes around this time. You may also want to contact Unicon to see if they have any knowledge of such changes as they also maintain a collection of CPS data.

I hope this helps.