CPS contains several weights. For instance, “earnings weights” is a person-level weight that should be used in any analysis including one of the following variables: EARNWEEK, HOURWAGE, PAIDHOUR, and UNION. Another one is “Summary health insurance weight” should be used when analizing the summaru health insurance variables. But I am not sured how I should include these weights in my sample.
Many thanks.
To add a particular weight to your sample, you can navigate to it in the Browse and Select Data screen and select it just like any other variable. The choice of weight depends on your research, but here are some general rules:
For most person-level analyses of monthly supplement IPUMS-CPS data (including data from the March supplement), apply the WTSUPP variable. WTSUPP gives the population represented by each individual in the sample.
For person-level analyses of non-supplement IPUMS-CPS data, apply the WTFINL variable. WTFINL gives the population represented by each individual in the sample.
For person-level analyses analyzing the summary health insurance variables (HCOVANY, HCOVPRIV, HINSEMP, HINSPUR, HCOVPUB, HINSCAID, HINSCARE, and HINSMIL), apply the HINSWT variable rather than WTSUPP.
For person-level analyses using the IPUMS-CPS variables EARNWEEK, HOURWAGE, PAIDHOUR, and UNION, apply the EARNWT variable.
For household-level analyses of March supplement data, weight the households using the HWTSUPP variable. HWTSUPP gives the number of households in the general population represented by each household in the sample.
For household-level analyses of non-March data, weight the households using the HWTFINL variable. HWTFINL gives the number of households in the general population represented by each household in the sample.