Experimental Poverty Measures, 2009: Public-Use Dataset Notes These notes are for analysts who use the public-use file that contains alternative poverty estimates for calendar year 2009 and other variables related to poverty measurement. Corresponding data based on the U.S. Census Bureau's internal datafiles may be found at http://www.census.gov/hhes/povmeas/data/nas/tables/2009/index.html The estimates included in these files are an update of the estimates in the report P60-227 (Alternative Poverty Estimates in the United States: 2003 -- available at http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p60-227.pdf that were based on recommendations from a National Academy of Sciences (NAS)panel. Three files are available from the U.S. Census Bureau's Experimental Poverty Measurement site at http://www.census.gov/hhes/povmeas/data/public-use.html 1. pov2009pu.sas7bdat 2. povpu09_web.sas 3. povpu09.lst The SAS dataset, pov2009pu.sas7bdat, was created using SAS version 9.2 on a UNIX platform. Contained in the SAS dataset are variables used to construct these experimental poverty measures. For details about the construction of the measures and their component elements, please refer to the P60-227 report (referenced above) and to P60-205, Experimental Poverty Measures: 1990 to 1997 (available at http://www.census.gov/prod/99pubs/p60-205.pdf), especially Appendix C. All variables in the public-use SAS dataset have variable labels, and, where appropriate, value labels. Household, family, and person-level ID variables are also contained in the dataset to allow analysts to re-merge the file with the 2010 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC)public-use file from which the datasets were created. The SAS program povpu09.sas reads in the SAS dataset, and, for illustrative purposes, also displays the final SAS data steps used to create the experimental poverty measures already contained in the dataset. (The recodes testpoor1 - testpoor13, created within the program, replicate poor1 - poor13 which are already on the file.) These steps are shown to help analysts replicate the experimental poverty measures and to provide guidance for those who wish to appropriately recombine various elements (i.e., thresholds and income definitions) to view alternative poverty measures. Notes: 1. INCOME VARIABLE AND TOPCODED VARIABLE CAVEATS: It is important to note that many of the poverty rates generated using these public-use SAS datasets differ slightly from those shown in Census Bureau publications. These differences occur because some public-use variables (such as the variables for total income, income by source, taxes, family medical out-of-pocket expenditures, and the amounts of child care expenses paid, and child support paid) are topcoded to protect respondents' confidentiality. To illustrate, the SAS output file povpu09.lst (available on the FTP site) shows two recode variables for official poverty -- poorpub and poor1. Each recode uses different CPS ASEC variables to construct the official poverty measure. The first, poorpub, is a recode of PERLIS, while poor1 was computed by dividing the CPS family income variable by the threshold variable (FTOTVAL / FPOVCUT). The two methods are conceptually identical; however, poorpub produces output consistent with Census Bureau reports while poor1 does not. The PERLIS variable (used to create poorpub) uses topcoded income, and protects respondents' confidentiality by grouping observations into broad categories by their ratio of income to poverty, whereas poor1 uses the complete income variable, FTOTVAL. Therefore, when computing alternative resource definitions--which by necessity use topcoded variables as components--please bear these differences in mind. 2. 2009 INCOME In an effort to expedite the release of alternative income and poverty estimates the March 2010 CPS ASEC Public Use File has been released without estimates for capital gains and capital losses. For this reason poverty estimates for 2009 are not strictly comparable to estimates from previous years. The federal economic recovery payment variable represents a one-time payment of $250 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (P.L. 111-5, 2/17/2009) to individuals who receive Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Railroad Retirement and Veteran’s Compensation and Pension Benefits. Federal Economic Recovery Payments were issued beginning in May 2009. An economic recovery payment of $250 was assigned to individuals reporting social security income, SSI income, railroad retirement income or veteran’s compensation or pension benefits in calendar year 2009. If a person received any of these benefits, then they are given the full amount of the additional payment, which is 250 dollars. This is done as a part of modeling taxes, so these payments are summed across tax units, leading to a maximum benefit (erp_val) for a joint filing tax unit of 500 dollars. Additional information about the Economic Recovery payments can be found on the IRS website. Several income definitions also include federal economic recovery payments. The variable ferp_val, a component of income variables testdef002- testdef009, is the value of federal economic recovery payments cumulated at the family level. The maximum economic recovery payment cumulated at the family level was 1000 dollars (resulting from ERP-eligible multiple tax filing units in the same family sharing a household). The Making Work Pay credit introduced for tax year 2009 was included in the calculation of federal taxes (ffedtax) and is not listed as a separate variable in this datafile. This credit was given to all wage earners as an adjustment on their paycheck withholdings, or for self-employed earners as a credit claimed on their taxes. This tax model uses the tax credit computations for all earnings, which results in the same credit as the adjustment. 3. NEW VARIABLES ADDED TO THE 2009 PUBLIC USE RESEARCH FILE This public use datafile includes several new items from the 2010 CPS ASEC designed to measure nondiscretionary spending. These new items are (1) family out-of-pocket medical expenditures; (2) Child support expenditures; (3) Child care expenditures and (4) Presence of mortgage. a. FAMILY OUT-OF-POCKET MEDICAL EXPENDITURES (fmoop) The 2010 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement included questions regarding the total yearly amount spent on medical care in 2009, excluding Medicare Part B premiums and the amount or percentage of these costs which were reimbursed. Medical out-of-pocket expenditures include any unreimbursed payments to doctors and hospitals, payments for dental care, the purchase of prescriptions and other medical supplies, and any other outlays for the person’s own medical needs. Family medical out-of-pocket expenditures are calculated as the total amount of medical out-of-pocket expenditures cumulated for each family member. Family medical out-of-pocket expenditures (fmoop) are topcoded at $48,670 to protect respondent confidentiality. b. CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS MADE (chsp_val) New items on the 2010 CPS ASEC ask whether household residents have any children who lived with another parent or guardian at anytime during the previous calendar year and whether they were legally required to pay child support. Household residents having non-resident child(ren) for whom they were obligated to pay support were asked the total amount of support paid in the previous calendar year. The variable chsp_val reflects the total amount paid by each household resident on behalf of his/her non-resident children under 21 years. Child support paid (chsp_val) was topcoded at $45,465 to protect respondent confidentiality. c. CHILD CARE EXPENSES (care_val) Previous ASEC supplements asked whether adults in the household paid for care for their own children under 15 years while they worked during the previous year. Provided that at least one working adult in the household paid for care for their own child under 15 years, new follow-up questions in the 2010 CPS ASEC asked how much the household paid for child care, how often child care was paid for and the total amount paid in 2009 by adults in the household. The variable care_val reflects the total amount paid for child care in 2009 by the household. Care value is top coded at $27,985 to protect respond confidentiality. d. PRESENCE OF MORTGAGE (hpres_mort) This public-use dataset includes the new variable, hpres_mort, a yes/no variable asked of all owner-occupied units indicating the presence of a mortgage on the housing unit. Researchers interested in examining thresholds that differ for homeowners with and without a mortgage should use this variable. 4. GEOGRAPHIC VARIABLE CAVEATS: Three issues with geographic variables warrant the user's attention: a change in sample design in the CPS ASEC public-use file meant that complete information on metropolitan/nonmetropolitan status was not available for every area; a changein geographic concepts prompted a new set of geographic variables; and last, the geographic-adjustment indices for poverty thresholds (geo2)were constructed with estimated metropolitan status information and with appropriate suppression of confidential data. See P60-216, Experimental Poverty Measures: 1999 for further information on the methods used to construct the geographic indices for the poverty thresholds at: http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/p60-216.pdf.