What is the difference between variables with and without the _CPS8 extension?
Respondents invited to participate in the ATUS were drawn from outgoing rotation groups of the Current Population Survey (CPS). ATUS interviews occurred 2-5 months after the final CPS interviews. The ATUS public use files allow users to link information about ATUS respondents, non-respondents, and their household members to the most recent CPS data available for all individuals and households invited to participate in the ATUS. Some of the questions asked in the CPS were asked again at the time of the ATUS interview. Examples of questions asked on both occasions include EMPSTAT and EMPSTAT_CPS8; AGE and AGE_CPS8; and EARNWEEK andEARNWEEK_CPS8. In these cases, the _CPS8 extension is used to distinguish the response given at the time of the CPS interview from updated responses collected 2-5 months later during the ATUS interview.
Some information collected at the time of the CPS interview (mostly detailed information about respondents’ jobs) was not updated during the ATUS interview. Examples of such information include IND_OJ_CPS8, OCC_OJ_CPS8, and UNION_CPS8. In these cases, the _CPS8 extension tells the data user that the information was collected during the CPS interview rather than the ATUS interview.
The majority of information collected at the time of the ATUS interview is only available for ATUS respondents. Limited information on ATUS respondent household members was collected, such as RELATE, SEX, and AGE.