METAREA - Missing data 9999

CPS
1

I’m confused about what the METAREA level ‘Missing data’ indicates about the observation.

In the 2019 ASEC-CPS, the variable METAREA has the code 9999 labelled ‘Missing data’. However, all of the observations with METAREA == 9999, have METRO codes indicating that they are in a metropolitan area (METRO == 2 | 3 | 4). Why are these observations not coded METAREA == 9997 indicating ‘Other metropolitan areas, unidentified’?

Thanks for any help!

2

Thank you for pointing this out. It does seem that 9997 is a more appropriate code for these cases. I will notify the IPUMS CPS team that this should be updated.