# Using IPUMS to calculate the employment rate

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/using-ipums-to-calculate-the-employment-rate/2286>\
**Category:** USA\
**Created:** [April 15, 2018, 3:40pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/using-ipums-to-calculate-the-employment-rate/2286 "2018-04-15T15:40:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![anniejerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@anniejerry](https://forum.ipums.org/u/anniejerry)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 3:40pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/using-ipums-to-calculate-the-employment-rate/2286/1 "2018-04-15T15:40:00Z")

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Hi

I am using IPUMS 1990 5% sample to calculate the percentage of working age-pop employed in manufacturing industry at commuting zone level. To do so, I tried to sum up all the weighted individuals employed in manufacturing and divided by total number of weighted working age people.

I am not sure I should use both household weight and personal weight here.

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**Author:** ![JeffBloem](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.ipums.org/jeffbloem/32/40_2.png) [@JeffBloem](https://forum.ipums.org/u/JeffBloem)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/using-ipums-to-calculate-the-employment-rate/2286/2 "2018-04-16T16:42:00Z")

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From the sounds of it, you should be using the person level sample weight variable. Additionally, for what it is worth, the [IPUMS CPS](https://cps.ipums.org/cps/) project provides more detailed labor force statistics than [IPUMS USA](https://usa.ipums.org/usa/). Although crude calculations of the unemployment rate are possible in IPUMS USA, the “official” unemployment rate is calculated every month using the underlying data available through IPUMS CPS.