Would IPUMS advise against using EMPSAME to impute HOURWAGE and EARNWEEK values for months-in-sample 1-3, and 5-7? I’m using linked BMS data to analyze monthly transitions from unemployment to employment. One of the reemployment indicators I’m interested in is wages (even though the BMS doesn’t provide pre-job loss earnings data; I’m also looking at the DWS). But, given the structure of the Earner survey, if I wanted to explore reemployment earnings (again, knowing I’m missing pre-job loss earnings), I’m limited to unemployed who transition to employment between months-in-sample 3 and 4, and 7 and 8. Is this correct? Given this limitation, I thought I would investigate how I could leverage EMPSAME to cautiously impute HOURWAGE and EARNWEEK to earlier months, so I could have earnings information for unemployed who transition to employment in months-in-sample 2 or 3, or 6 or 7.
One significant complication I can think of is that respondents could earn raises/experience wage changes in the time between their first reemployment month and months-in-sample 4 or 8. Also, I understand that EMPSAME has its own issues (e.g., unexplained “niu” responses). So, maybe this isn’t possible; but I thought I would double-check.