# CPS Monthly Sept 2017:: Puzzling values for "sex" **URL:** \ **Category:** CPS\ **Created:** [August 16, 2021, 3:06am UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/cps-monthly-sept-2017-puzzling-values-for-sex/4272 "2021-08-16T03:06:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![M\_Howell-Moroney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@M\_Howell-Moroney](https://forum.ipums.org/u/M_Howell-Moroney)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 3:06am UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/cps-monthly-sept-2017-puzzling-values-for-sex/4272/1 "2021-08-16T03:06:18Z")
Dear Colleagues, I am getting some weird tabulations for the “sex” variable in the 9/2017 CPS Monthly Supplement. I am using Stata and ran the usual generated IPUMS Stata code for the raw import. **Raw Import** The relevant part of the code is label define sex\_lbl 1 `"Male"' label define sex_lbl 2 `“Female”‘, add label define sex\_lbl 9 `“NIU”’, add label values sex sex\_lbl As you can see there are three values defined: 1,2 and 9 **The Puzzling Tabulation** This is the untransformed sex variable from the raw infile, so it has not been recoded or changed Yet when I tab sex I get he following ![Tab of sex](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/ipums/original/1X/18cdb8e9886946b5acf7b0f939ab2c7e5468930e.jpeg) As you can see, there are several undefined values for the sex variable (0, 4, 5). And the percentages seem way off as well. I don’t think the sample is 96% Male and only 0.1% Female-- right? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Michael +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Michael Howell-Moroney, Ph.D. Professor Department of Public and Nonprofit Administration School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy The University of Memphis 315 Browning Hall Memphis, TN 38152 Voice: 901.678.2640 Fax: 901.678.2981 > **[Public and Nonprofit Administration (PADM)](https://www.memphis.edu/padm/)** > > Public and Nonprofit Administration (PADM) ---
**Author:** ![Matthew\_Bombyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Matthew\_Bombyk](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Matthew_Bombyk)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 6:29pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/cps-monthly-sept-2017-puzzling-values-for-sex/4272/2 "2021-08-20T18:29:15Z")
I just downloaded your extract #2 and tabulated the variable SEX, which looked normal: ```nohighlight ------------+----------------------------------- Male | 62,176 48.56 48.56 Female | 65,868 51.44 100.00 ------------+----------------------------------- Total | 128,044 100.00 ``` I wonder if there was an error when you downloaded the file or the command file. I suggest trying to download them again. Make sure you unzip the data file before loading it into Stata. If you’re still having issues, please email ipums@umn.edu so we can help you troubleshoot.