# occupational employment

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/occupational-employment/2733>\
**Category:** USA\
**Created:** [January 10, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/occupational-employment/2733 "2019-01-10T13:06:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gxxjjj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9fc29f/32.png) [@gxxjjj](https://forum.ipums.org/u/gxxjjj)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/occupational-employment/2733/1 "2019-01-10T13:06:00Z")

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Dear all,

I am new to the Ipums CPS data. I want to estimate the employment level by occupation. How should I proceed?

Thanks for your help!

Best,

gxxjjj

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**Author:** ![JeffBloem](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.ipums.org/jeffbloem/32/40_2.png) [@JeffBloem](https://forum.ipums.org/u/JeffBloem)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 3:08pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/occupational-employment/2733/2 "2019-01-14T15:08:00Z")

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There are multiple ways that you could proceed here. The most flexible approach would be to download microdata from [IPUMS CPS](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/group). The [EMPSTAT](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/EMPSTAT#codes_section)variable identifies an individual’s employment status and [OCC](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/OCC#codes_section)identifies an individual’s occupation. You can download this microdata for a given CPS sample and load it into your preferred statistical software (e.g. Stata, SPSS, SAS, R, or Excel). Alternatively, we have an [online analysis tool](https://cps.ipums.org/cps/sda.shtml) that allows for quicker analysis using CPS data. A [list of FAQs are available here](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/faq) and may be helpful to you as you get started using IPUMS data.