# We are examining OCC and IND from 1980-current.  For all these years can we use OCC1990 and IND 1990?

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/we-are-examining-occ-and-ind-from-1980-current-for-all-these-years-can-we-use-occ1990-and-ind-1990/532>\
**Category:** USA\
**Created:** [May 21, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/we-are-examining-occ-and-ind-from-1980-current-for-all-these-years-can-we-use-occ1990-and-ind-1990/532 "2014-05-21T19:03:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jmedeiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/65b543/32.png) [@jmedeiros](https://forum.ipums.org/u/jmedeiros)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/we-are-examining-occ-and-ind-from-1980-current-for-all-these-years-can-we-use-occ1990-and-ind-1990/532/1 "2014-05-21T19:03:00Z")

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We are examining OCC and IND from 1980-current. For all these years can we use OCC1990 and IND 1990? Does it makes sense to use OCC1990 and IND1900 for 1980?

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**Author:** ![grover](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.ipums.org/grover/32/5_2.png) [@grover](https://forum.ipums.org/u/grover)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 1:43pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/we-are-examining-occ-and-ind-from-1980-current-for-all-these-years-can-we-use-occ1990-and-ind-1990/532/2 "2014-05-22T13:43:00Z")

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The [OCC1990](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/OCC1990#description_section) and [IND1990](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/IND1990#description_section) variables are [harmonized](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/faq#ques2) across all samples to facilitate comparison across time, so using these variables for comparing 1980-current is exactly what they were ment for. Since occupation codes are changed so often, these consistent variables attempt to classify each occupation and industry code from the original years (e.g. 1980) in terms of the 1990 coding scheme. Since There is a lot of information about the [occupation and industry variables](https://usa.ipums.org/usa/volii/occ_ind.shtml) on the IPUMS-USA website that you can look through to determine whether or not the decisions made in the creation of these variables are acceptable for your study. There is even a downloadable excel crosswalk that shows the relationship between OCC and OCC1990 so you can see which codes were change for the sake of harmonization.

I hope this helps.