I am currently working with ASEC linked files. In 1990 and 1991, I found a couple of INCWAGE = 99999.
Given the info available here, I thought the topcode in those years was 199,998.
Is this a typo?
You are correct that the topcode for INCWAGE in 1990 and 19991 is INCWAGE = 199,998. INCWAGE values are a combination of INCLONGJ and OINCWAGE (see the description tab for INCWAGE for more information), the topcodes of which for both is 99,999. This means that in cases where both INCLONGJ and OINCWAGE are top coded, the value of INCWAGE will be 99,999 + 99,999 = 199,998. There are a number of cases where INCWAGE = 99,999, which is a result of one of the component variables (INCLONGJ or OINCWAGE) being top coded at 99,999 and the other being 0.
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Many thanks @Grace_Cooper ! That makes a lot of sense.
(I’ve seen the explanatory footnote in the topcode tables for years 1996+ but wasn’t sure if it also applies to earlier years. Maybe adding a similar/same footnote to earlier year tables might be helpful.)