I am noticing that CPS respondents in months 6,7,8 of the 1995 CPS only have 1 to 3 observations total in the dataset (over 90% of the sample in these months only has one observation). Additionally, these observations take on MISH values ranging from 1-8. Is there a reason related to survey design or any other factors why this is happening, and why it is happening only in this 3-month period? Thanks!
If I understand correctly, you are trying to link June-August 1995 CPS data to leverage the panel component of the data. We are aware of this issue (see this forum post), but don’t have an explanation for why this is happening. The IPUMS CPS team will look into this further, but I don’t have a definitive timeline for that work. I am sure this isn’t the answer you were hoping for; thanks for your patience and keeping this on our radar.
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Dear Kari,
Has this issue been resolved in any way? To the best of your knowledge, is there any way to link respondents from August 1995 to those in September?
Thank you!
To the best of my knowledge there is no way to link between August and September of 1995 because of changes to the linking keys in the public use files released for the original source data. I have included an excerpt from the October 1995 codebook below and emphasized the most relevant text. I will note that I have elevated the request to look into the June to August 1995 links with the IPUMS CPS team, but don’t have a definitive answer about what might be happening (and that doesn’t seem relevant to your immediate question about linking from August to September).
Effective September 1995, a number of revisions were made to the CPS public use files. Most were related to the recent phase-in of a new sample based on the results of the 1990 Census. This phase-in was completed in June 1995. Part of this changeover was the use of new metropolitan area definitions based on the results of the 1990 Decennial Census in selecting the new sample. As such, beginning in September 1995, metropolitan area definitions effective June 30, 1993 will be identified subject to confidentiality restrictions on the CPS public use files. The new variables and their locations are given below. Concurrent with this revision, several other changes were made to the CPS public use files. The most important of these was the creation of a new set of household identification numbers for the September forward files. Bureau of the Census confidentiality restrictions require that we preclude the possibility of matching any households from data files before and after the September 1995 date. In conjunction with this, the Bureau revised its sample household numbering scheme. These two considerations resulted in the creation of a 15 character household identification number. The location of this number is now in characters 1-15 (previously 1-12) of all non-March files and characters 344-358 (previously 320-331) on the March files.
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