Hi-
I’m interested in aggregating some employment characteristics at the occupational level in the CPS data then I would like to merge this information with NHIS using occupational codes. I noticed the CPS and NHIS have different occupational classification systems. Do I need to convert the occupational codes to the same system or how would I merge these datasets? Thank you.
Since the NHIS uses a broader occupation (OCC) classification system, you will need a crosswalk that maps the detailed CPS occupation codes into their correct NHIS code.
These crosswalks appear in the appendices to the NHIS sample adult codebooks. The 2020 NHIS codebook (the first year to code occupations based on the 2018 Census Bureau system) provides this crosswalk on page 621. You can additionally find the 2010 vintage crosswalk (for recoding occupations in samples from 2010-2018) in the 2010 NHIS sample adult codebook.
I just have a few follow-up questions. If I’m using the CPS OCC2010 variable to map CPS occupational codes to NHIS occupational codes for sample years 2012-2018, Would I need to use the 2010 NHIS codebook on pg 362 occupation appendix ?
Also, is there a difference between using the NHIS OCC vs OCC1995 variable to map the CPS codes to NHIS codes ? If I want to merge CPS data with NHIS from 2012-2018, which NHIS occupation var should I use?