# Ownershp Data Refers to Current or Previous Calendar Year **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [February 27, 2021, 2:42am UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/ownershp-data-refers-to-current-or-previous-calendar-year/3995 "2021-02-27T02:42:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ok0704](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@ok0704](https://forum.ipums.org/u/ok0704)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 2:42am UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/ownershp-data-refers-to-current-or-previous-calendar-year/3995/1 "2021-02-27T02:42:48Z")
As I’m working on a a household level analysis that requires ownership, household income, and demographic variables, I’m wondering which variables correspond to the survey year and which to the previous calendar year. HHincome explicitly mentions that it refers to the previous calendar year, but ownership and the demographic variables do not. If I am calculating the homeownership rate using the 2020 ASEC ownershp variable, is that reflecting 2020 or 2019? ---
**Author:** ![Matthew\_Bombyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Matthew\_Bombyk](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Matthew_Bombyk)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 4:12pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/ownershp-data-refers-to-current-or-previous-calendar-year/3995/2 "2021-03-01T16:12:00Z")
Unless otherwise specified, most variables in the CPS (including OWNERSHP) refer to the week preceding the survey (more detail [here](https://www.bls.gov/cps/definitions.htm#refweek)). If there is a specific reference period that’s different from this, this will be included in the variable description, as you saw for HHINCOME. As a rule of thumb, variables that give the “status” of something at a point in time (i.e., “state variables,” such as employment status, occupation, household tenure) refer to the time of the survey. Some of these variables have other versions referring to the previous calendar year in the ASEC supplement, in which case they require a more detailed definition to pinpoint the exact time during the previous year that is referred to. For example, [OCC](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/occ#description_section) refers to the current occupation, while [OCCLY](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/occly#description_section) refers to the “occupation of the **longest job** last year”. [EMPSTAT](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/empstat#description_section) gives current employment status while [WORKLY](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/workly#description_section) gives whether the person “worked **at any time** last year”. You can also consult the [ASEC questionnaire](https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/techdocs/cpsmar19.pdf) for question wording in some cases.