Hello,
I am trying to get the share of the population enrolled in school from 1979 until today. I see that EDATT (https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/EDATT#codes_section) actually does that but, if you look at it, it is not available. Does anyone know what the problem is?
Thank you!
The availability tab for EDATT notes that this variable appears in October CPS samples from 1976-2022. It likely shows that it is not available because you have not selected any of the October samples to add to your data cart. This variable is part of the School Enrollment/Education Supplement that is included annually with the October Basic Monthly Survey. The 2022 supplement data was released on IPUMS CPS in January 2024 and future supplements are expected to be released on a similar schedule. To add the relevant samples to your cart so you can include EDATT in your custom data file, click on the orange “Select Samples” button in the upper-left corner of the data browsing page, then click on the “Basic Monthly” tab; from there you can select samples either by month (e.g., October) or by supplement topic (e.g., “Education Supplement”).
You might also be interested in using SCHLCOLL, which reports current enrollment in high school or college and is available in every month of the CPS from 1989-onwards. Unlike EDATT, SCHLCOLL has a much narrower age range of respondents that it is fielded to. The universe tab notes that the question is asked of either persons aged 18-24 or 18-54 depending on the year of the survey, whereas EDATT is most commonly asked of all persons aged 3 and older.