I was wondering if there is any guidance on how public school teachers are coded when it comes to the weeks worked variables (wkswork1 and wkswork2). Does this just depend on how the individual answers ACS question 40b (During the past 12 months how many weeks did this person work?)?
The question from the ACS questionnaire that is used to create the variables WKSWORK1 and WKSWORK2 is:
During the PAST 12 MONTHS (52 weeks), how many WEEKS did this person work? Include paid time off and include weeks when the person only worked for a few hours
So you are correct that respondent discretion and interpretation of the question play a role in measuring weeks of work. This question may be more difficult for respondents to interpret for workers who have long periods off work (e.g., teachers), seasonal workers, and other workers who do not work year-round. Some teachers also opt to receive pay through the summer, which may further complicate how they interpret the question.
To get more insight into how teachers’ responses typically look for these two variables, I would suggest using the occupation and industry variables (e.g., OCC and IND) to identify the particular workers you are interested in, and examining the distribution of WKSWORK1 and WKSWORK2. You might get a general sense of whether most teachers report working year-round or whether many instead report working for around nine or 10 months of the year. I don’t believe it’s possible to distinguish public school teachers from other teachers using ACS data.
Note that the ACS does not collect information on whether respondents held multiple jobs. Also note that the ACS is fielded on a rolling basis throughout the year, and it is not possible to determine in the public data the month in which an individual was surveyed. Job changes during different parts of the year to and from seasonal jobs or non-year-round jobs (e.g., teaching jobs) could affect the number of weeks worked in the last 12 months.
You might also find the detailed EMPSTAT codes useful, since respondents can report that they are employed but not at work.
You may consider using Current Population Survey (CPS) data from IPUMS CPS if you are interested in better understanding how teachers’ work hours differ throughout the year. The CPS is a monthly, short, interrupted panel survey. The month and year of the survey are included in the data. The variable AHRSWORKT reports the number of hours worked in the previous week. This allows you to see how many hours per week teachers typically work in different months. There are also variables that distinguish between a respondent’s main job and other job. I would be happy to provide more information on whether and how IPUMS CPS data may be a good fit for your project if you can provide more details about your work.
Isabel, thank you so much for this thoughtful response. This is enough information for me to get through this project for the time being, but I will follow up if I have more detailed questions.
Cheers!
Julie