I notice that occ_1990 and ind_1990 are not available on the basic monthly CPS’s in 2020. I realize that occ and ind are new for 2020. Does that mean we are just waiting for Census or someone to do the cross-walk or are occ_1990 and ind_1990 not likely to become available in the foreseeable future?
I also notice that IPUMS has choosen not to include some of the major occ and ind variables that Census provides on the monthly CPS’s in the IPUMS version. I’m sure there is a good reason but am wondering what it is.
As you noted, the 2020 CPS data use updated coding systems for occupation (based on the 2018 SOC) and industry (based on the 2017 NAICS). Changes to the underlying classification systems have consequences for a number of harmonized occupation variables available through IPUMS CPS, including OCC1990 and IND1990. The Census Bureau released the crosswalks between the occupation and industry coding schemes in December; you can find them on their Industry and Occupation page. We definitely plan to update OCC1990 and IND1990. While harmonized industry and occupation variables are popular among IPUMS users, addressing changes to the coding systems used to create them are time-intensive and we were unwilling to hold up the release of basic monthly data for this. Our IPUMS CPS team is working on this currently; check back later this year for these variables. Regarding other occupation and industry variables, you may be able to get the information you are looking for as unharmonized variables (see image below for changing the variable browsing page to display unharmonized versus harmonized variables). The detailed and major recode variables for occupation and industry in recent years are available in this format.
