Missing FTOTINC value in ASEC sample. Who is excluded from families by Census definition?

CPS
1

Dear Folks–

Why is there no variable for income based on IPUMS family designations (FTOTINC) visible as a selectable variable when I look at a sample of ASEC (March CPS) surveys?

I was hoping to see how badly FTOTVAL is biased by the exclusion of families that do not have a member related to the householder by blood, marriage or adoption.

Have you at IPUMS, or anyone you know of using your data, looked at how many people are excluded from being families by the Census exclusion of people not related to the head of household, or at how they differ demographically or in economic characteristics?

Sincerely, Andrew Hoerner

2

A family income variable based on IPUMS-CPS could be constructed using FAMUNIT and INCTOT for each person within a family unit. One discussion of household and family composition using IPUMS data (specifically IPUMS-USA) can be found here. You may also be interested inthis article by Kurt Bauman which directly deals with poverty. If you would like to search through articles that use IPUMS data, the IPUMS Bibliography page has a searchable index of various works citing IPUMS.

I hope this helps.