CPS panel linkage (ASEC + BMS + Oversample?)

CPS
1

Dear,

My name is Tomás Báscolo, I am on my second year of my PhD working with CPS data on migration, citizenship, and naturalization.

I am working with the panel structure of CPS, where participants in the Basic Monthly Sample can be link with ASEC data via CPSIDV. I have been able to do this successfully. However, recently I came across these two new papers (Research Note on Linking CPS ASEC files) & (Including the ASEC Oversamples in linked CPS data). Both of these papers note that it is not possible to link the same participant present in the Hispanic oversample or SCHIP oversample to their respective observations in BMS. However, the main focus of these papers is to show how to link participants in these oversamples with their respective observations in ASEC and that it could, theoretically, be possible to expand the maximum potential panel observation range from 8 to 9 or 10 observations per unique individual. Nonetheless, it is not very clear why this link between oversample and BMS cannot be made. For instance, when a cross-section with all this data is extracted, it is possible to observe that all observations have been assigned a CPSIDV. My question is why one could not simply use the validated key to create the link? If the answer is because the recycling of household identifiers between 2001-2005, could this extended link be made in years after this?

In my head, if it is possible to separately link BMS to ASEC and ASEC to their own oversample, and all of them have a CPSIDV assigned, why could the link not be made?

I would truly appreciate it if someone could clarify this for me.

Best regards,

Tomás.

2

ASEC oversample respondents are currently linked to one another across ASEC samples, but are not linked to their BMS records. Any potential linking of ASEC oversample respondents to their BMS records is significantly complicated by the fact that they are not administered the March BMS. As stated in the Including the ASEC Oversamples in Linked CPS Data working paper, the ASEC questionnaire is administered to three groups:

  1. All respondents to the March CPS Basic Monthly Survey
  2. An oversample of Hispanic households (1976-present)
  3. An oversample of non-Hispanic households with a child under 18 or a non-white household member (2001-present)

Neither the second nor third group are administered the March BMS and therefore, by design, do not have a March BMS record to link to.

While all oversample records have a CPSIDV value (the validated version of CPSIDP) assigned by IPUMS, this does not mean that they have been linked to the BMS samples. These linking variables are created as a result of the linking algorithm implemented by researchers at IPUMS; they are not provided by the Census Bureau and are only created once a link has been established by the algorithm. Since the algorithm does not currently link persons in the oversamples to any of their BMS responses, the result is that these persons are assigned one CPSIDV/P value when they are part of the ASEC oversample and a different one for when they are in the BMS samples.