I am wondering if documentation exists that describes the codes in the ind1950 variable in greater detail. It would be helpful to have more information on the codes and what is and is not included in each one. For example, I was trying to determine which code would comprise sugar refining, and I was not sure whether it would be 417 (confectionary and related products), 419 (miscellaneous food preparations and kindred products), or something else entirely. If IPUMS supplied a few sentences for each of the codes, this task would be much easier.
I see someone else asked a similar question here, but the question seems somewhat unresolved. Given the extraordinary effort required to create the ind1950 variable, it strikes me as odd that code descriptions are nowhere to be found. I have also looked online for documentation from the 1950 census providing industry classification descriptions, but I have not come across anything of use.
To track a specific industry, such as sugar refining, in the Census or American Community Survey, you may be better off using IND rather than IND1950. The variable IND1950 harmonizes industries (as reported in IND) from 1850-2022 into the 1950 Census Bureau industrial classification system. IND1950 is not intended to be used to track highly detailed groups of workers, but rather to facilitate analysis of industries across a wide range of years of data. If you can share more about the specific year(s) you are interested in, I can likely provide information on how you could determine how individuals in the sugar refining industry are coded in IND. Alternatively, you could reference a particular year’s index of industries and occupations from the Census Bureau, which provides a full list of the exact industries that were coded into the broader industry codes. I have linked to these indices from 1940-2016 below, which may be a good starting point for you.
1940 Alphabetical Index of Occupations and Industries
1950 Alphabetical Index of Industries and Occupations
1960 Alphabetical Index of Industries and Occupations
1970 Alphabetical Index of Industries and Occupations
1980 Alphabetical Index of Industries and Occupations
1990 Alphabetical Index of Industries and Occupations
Census 2000 Occupation Index (Excel file)
Census 2002 Occupation Index (Excel file)
Census 2010 Occupation Index (Excel file)
Census 2016 Occupation Index (Excel file)
Thank you for your thoughtful reply, Isabel. I should have mentioned that I am looking at a historical context, where I don’t believe ind is available. I’ve been using ind1950 because it is available in all of the full-count files going back to 1850. I’m interested in approximately 1850 through 1950 (very specific, I know). Given that only ind1950 is available for those years, what do you suggest? I did look at the 1950 document from the Census Bureau that you linked, which I understand underlies the ind1950 variable, but since the document seems more focused on occupations than industries, I wasn’t sure how to use it to address my question.
I apologize for the delay in getting back to you. This time period is a bit more complex, because for 1850-1930, IND is created based on OCC. I will work to compile some resources about the specific translation from the unrecoded occupation or industry value in these years (OCC or IND) into the IND9150 value, if that would be useful to you.
One way to explore how the original string responses to IND and OCC map onto the IND and OCC codes (and therefore the IND1950 codes) is to use sample data from the years you are interested in to look at OCCSTR and INDSTR. These variables report the original string responses to occupation and industry questions. You can look at how the string responses to OCC (the responses in OCCSTR) correspond to values of OCC and IND1950 in samples from 1930 and earlier. In samples from 1940 and 1950, you would look at how OCCSTR and INDSTR map onto OCC and IND, and how these two variables then map onto IND1950. While the samples may not be large enough to provide information about highly specific strings (or the strings you are interested in, depending on what they are), it may be a useful first step.
That is very helpful! I believe the OCCSTR and INDSTR values provide the detail I need. If you find any resources that shed light on the construction of the IND1950 variable, please do send them. Thank you!
IPUMS mainly uses the 1950 Alphabetical Index of Occupations and Industries (linked in my previous post) to assign IND1950 codes to the original string responses to IND and OCC in pre-1950 data. Note that industry was not directly reported in the census until 1910; prior to 1910, industry was inferred from occupation. From 1910-onward, most industry responses were clear enough that the coding from INDSTR into IND1950 was very straightforward.
If you would like to see the original occupation and industry string variables from 1850-1950 in the full count data, you may apply for a restricted use data license. This license would allow you to access the full count census data from 1850-1950 that includes original string variables, including occupation and industry. You would then be able to investigate the exact occupation and industry strings that are recoded into each IND1950 code. Please email ipums@umn.edu with questions or to request an application for a restricted use data license.
I was able to find two papers that you may find useful as well:
United States Bureau of the Census, Changes Between the 1950 and 1960 Occupation and Industry Classifications (technical paper 18 prepared by J.A. Priebe), 1968 (link to paper)
Sobek, Matthew. 1995. “The Comparability of Occupations and the Generation of Income Scores.” Historical Methods 28(1): 47-51. (link to paper)