WNLOOK - how to identify discouraged workers & why so many NILF-Retired individuals in the WNLOOK population?

CPS
1

I am working with the WNLOOK variable and find that a simple crosstab with the variable empstat shows that the population includes both “NILF-Other” and “NILF-Retired”. “NILF Retired” make up roughly 15-20% of the WNLOOK population (and historically even more). Why are so many retired individuals interested in working (but have not looked for work over the past four weeks)?

A second question is how to identify discouraged workers (BLS definition) in the WNLOOK population. Previous posts in the forum don’t pin down the exact conditions or variables needed. I have found the unharmonized variable UH_DSCWK_B2, where I can condition on “discouraged worker” - is the solution to use WNLOOK in the range 1-5, and then condition on UH_DSCWK_B2==1?. Also, am I right to assume that the “conditionally interested” population is not part of the “discouraged worker” population?

Any insights would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
Janina Curtis Broker

2

Currently WNLOOK seems to be the best variable available for identifying discouraged workers in the CPS microdata. Discouraged workers have WNLOOK=1-5, as can be verified by a cross-tab with UH_DSCWK_B2. Although UH_DSCWK_B2 more directly identifies discouraged workers, the universe is more limited and we do not yet fully understand who is covered by this variable. Until this is clarified, I would not suggest using this variable.