I’m new to IPUMS and I have a few questions about foreign-born by county data. As mentioned in a previous post, IPUMS USA data does not include all counties; however, IPUMS NHGIS includes data for all counties. Knowing this I researched foreign-born data. I found mostly what I am researching but I am having trouble finding the employment status data and industry/occupation data on the foreign-born. Is that something available in NHGIS or do I need to research it using USA? If USA is the only method, can you give me guidance on how I would find the data there?
Unfortunately, NHGIS does not have employment or industry/occupation data on the foreign-born. The Census Bureau does not publish tables with a cross tabulation of employment by place of birth or industry/occupation by place of birth.
In IPUMS USA, I would recommend downloading the following variables:
STATEFIP - state FIPS code - found under HOUSEHOLD - GEOGRAPHIC
COUNTY - county code - found under HOUSEHOLD - GEOGRAPHIC
BPL - place of birth - found under PERSON - RACE, ETHNICITY, AND NATIVITY
EMPSTAT - employment status - found under PERSON - WORK
OCC - occupation - found under PERSON - WORK
IND - industry - found under PERSON - WORK
You will also have to choose an sample (e.g., ACS 1-year for 2016).
When you download the data, you can create your own tabulations at the county level by combining BPL with EMPSTAT, OCC, or IND.
You may have to do some recoding of the data. The BPL codes contain a lot of detail, and you may want to create a native-born vs. foreign-born variable instead.