Why is the person-level, microdata variable "PROFESSION" available in IPUMS-TERRA but not in IPUMS-International?

I noticed a “PROFESSION” variable in the “Other Person” section in the IPUMS-TERRA microdata, but this variable was missing from the same section in IPUMS-International? This “PROFESSION” variable seems to be distinct from the OCCISCO variable since the OCCISCO variables are available in the “Person - Work” sections of both IPUMS-T and IPUMS-I.

My questions are:

  1. How is the “PROFESSION” variable distinct from OCCISCO?

  2. Since IPUMS-T data is not available in the same geographic admin unit as IPUMS-I (i.e., IPUMS-I has more GEOLEV2 data then IPUMS-T for the same samples and variables), I would like to be able to use the “PROFESSION” variable with IPUMS-I microdata. I intend on creating this variable using a statistical package. Could someone instruct me as to how I might create my own “PROFESSION” variable to link with IPUMS-I data (i.e., how was the variable created in IPUMS-T)?

Thank you in advance for your responses.

Actually, the PROFESSION variable shouldn’t be available yet via IPUMS Terra, as it is still being tested and not quite yet ready for use. In the process of testing it was mistakenly included in the online data.

The PROFESSION variable is a re-code of occupation codes and is intended to identify groups of professionals. The goal is to release the PROFESSION variable through both IPUMS International and IPUMS Terra in the future. When this happens, PROFESSION will likely be a series of binary variables that identify certain professions (e.g. doctors, business managers, engineers, etc.) rather than the typical occupation classification scheme. Also, when these variable(s) are ready for use, there will be quite a bit more supporting documentation about the creation of the PROFESSION variable(s).

I hope this helps. Sorry for the confusion.