Hi,
I was hoping to find out a little more information about the asecwt variable for the CPS. I found a note on the BLS website about population control adjustments. They indicate that it is necessary to revise population estimates after the release of census data. Does the asecwt variable account for these revisions? Or do researchers need to go back and adjust for changes in population controls themselves?
Here is the link to the note on the BLS website.
Thank you so much!
The Census Bureau does not revise past years’ weights after the release of new population data. This new data may slightly affect population estimates for previous years; for example, the average absolute difference between the 2010 population estimates and 2010 Census counts was 3.1 percent across all counties. However, this change has not necessitated Census to offer readjusted weights or to recommend researchers to adjust the weights themselves. Moreover, the weighting process as described in the technical documentation has multiple stages and requires additional information generally not available to researchers. You should have no problems using ASECWT for your analysis. Please keep in mind however that the 2022 sample is the first to use the blended 2020 population base. For this reason, you should be cautious and avoid directly comparing population totals from the 2022 data with previous years.