Employed but income wage = 0 ?

1

Hello,

I am analyzing the CPS-IPUMS ASEC data, but I have found some possible inconsistencies: why are there observations with incwage = 0 and empstat= “at work (10)” or “has a job… (12)”? Shouldn’t employed individuals have a wage?

Thank you very much.

Paul

2

The reason for this is that the EMPSTAT variable asks about current work status while the INCWAGE variable identifies the wage or salary income during the previous calendar year. Therefore, these two variables relate to slightly different time periods. For a list of work related variables associated with work during the previous calendar year, look at the work variables available in the ASEC questionnaire.