Questions about the Displaced Worker Supplement data

CPS
1

Hi,

I have a few questions about the Displaced Worker Supplement data and the variables present on IPUMS-CPS. I was happy to see it added to the website, but there seems to be some key variables that are missing. In particular, I am looking for the “lost job total weekly earnings” variable (PRSWKLY). It’s present in the data on DataFerrett and in the Codebook (ftp://ftp2.census.gov/programs-survey…), but it does not appear on the website.

Also, when will the 2014 wave of the Displaced Worker Supplement data be added to IPUMS-CPS?

Thanks!

Michelle

2

We are continually expanding the number of variables available through IPUMS-CPS; however, we do not currently provide all of the Displaced Worker supplement variables. For those variables missing from IPUMS, it is possible to merge the IPUMS-CPS data with the CPS data available via NBER. In most cases, the IPUMS sample shares the same sort order as the NBER sample. As a result, you should be able to sequentially merge the two datasets (i.e. first IPUMS observation to first NBER observation, second to second, etc.). You should then confirm this merge by comparing values of age, sex, and race before and after the merge.

The IPUMS-CPS team does not currently have plans to release the 2014 January Supplement (Displaced Workers) in the near future, although they are aware of user interest in this supplement sample. At this time, the team is working on an internal project that will make the process of harmonizing data more efficient. Unfortunately, this means they will not be working on releasing new samples or variables until at least the end of summer.

Hope this helps.