CPS Labor Extracts

1979 - 1999

NBER

May 2000

Topic

Page

Introduction

2

Miscellaneous variables

6

Geography

9

Demography

13

Wages

20

Employment

23

Union Status

31

(Appendices are on disk in directory /docs)

CPS Labor Extracts

1979 - 1999

Daniel Feenberg

May 2000

http://www.nber.org/data-on-cd.html

Abstract

The Current Population Survey (CPS) is the government monthly household survey of employment and labor markets. It is the source of the unemployment rate announced each month in the popular press. Since 1968 public use micro data files have been available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for external analysis. In the interest of ease of use, the NBER has prepared a CD-ROM with extracts of the files from 1979 to 1999.

The extracts include individual data for about 30,000 individuals each month for 252 months. The 50 or so variables selected relate to employment: hours worked, earnings, industry, occupation, education, and unionization. The extracts also contain many background variables: age, sex, race, ethnicity, geographic location, etc. Annual income is not among the variables - that question is asked only in March. Aside from standardizing the many different codes used by Census to indicate missing values, most variables are just as created by Census. In a few cases (noted in the documentation) we have recoded variables to enhance uniformity through time.

Credits

The first edition of these extracts was prepared by Larry Katz and Hank Farber. This edition was prepared by Daniel Feenberg, who is responsible for all errors and this documentation. Special thanks to Inna Shapiro, Jean Roth, William Gould, David Autor, Danny Blanchflower, David Macpherson, and Alida Castillo-Freeman. Suggestions and corrections should be made to Jean Roth at jroth@nber.org.

Sample:

The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly survey of about 60,000 households. An adult (the reference person) at each household is asked to report on the activities of all other persons in the household. There is a record in the file for each adult person. The universe is the adult non-institutional population.

Each household entering the CPS is administered 4 monthly interviews, then ignored for 8 months, then interviewed again for 4 more months. If the occupants of a dwelling unit move, they are not followed, rather the new occupants of the unit are interviewed. Since 1979 only households in months 4 and 8 have been asked their usual weekly earnings/usual weekly hours. These are the outgoing rotation groups, and each year the BLS gathers all these interviews together into a single Merged Outgoing Rotation Group File. A consequence of this construction is that an individual appears only once in any file year, but may reappear in the following year.

The BLS calls these files the Annual Earnings Files, but we prefer the name Merged Outgoing Rotation Groups, because there is no information in the file on annual earnings. Only hourly or weekly earnings are recorded.

The sample is stratified to provide better estimates for minorities and smaller political jurisdictions. Weights are provided for the preparation of descriptive values and tabulations.

All persons 16 years of age or over are included in the extracts.

CD-ROM Structure:

In the fourth edition the data are provided as a series of annual STATA .dta files. Each contains all outgoing rotation groups for a single year between 1979 and 1999. From within STATA any file can be loaded with a use statement. For example, if the CD-ROM is drive D:, then the statements:

set memory=32m

use d:\morg\annual\morg79

will load the entire 1979 file. As each year is 25-28 megabytes, you may wish to restrict the data loaded. Here is an example that retrieves two variables for January only:

use weight veteran if intmonth==1 using d:\morg\annual\morg79

Danny Blanchflower has graciously contributed STATA do files which provide value labels for many of the variables, and also statewide unemployment rates. You can incorporate this into your working file with: do d:\sources\morg79.

If you append records from the next year you will get repeated observations on the same individual, and you would want to worry about your standard errors, possibly using the Huber option on the regression command.

Alternatives to STATA:

As noted, the extracts are STATA binary save files. These files are compact and portable across operating systems and hardware platforms. Users without STATA may be interested in the IBM-PC program STAT/TRANSFER. This program can translate STATA files into other formats. For example:

transfer morg79.dta morg79.tpt

will generate a file in SAS XPORT format. Among statistical packages supported are SPSS, SAS, and Systat. Database packages supported include Alpha 4, dBase, Foxbase and Clipper.

Only recent versions of STAT/Transfer will correctly read STATA files generated in non-Intel byte order, such as these.

Complete copies of the entire content of the raw data files are available from Unicon Inc.

Vendors Mentioned:

Stata Corporation

702 University Drive

College Station TX 77840

409-696-4600

800-782-8272

stata@stata.com

http://www.stata.com

Publications Department

NBER

1050 Mass. Ave.

Cambridge MA 02138

617-868-3900

orders@nber.org

http://www.nber.org

Circle Systems (Stat/Transfer)

1001 Fourth Ave Place #3200

Seattle WA 98154

206-682-3783

stsales@circlesys.com

http://www.stattransfer.com

Unicon Inc.

1640 Fifth Street

Santa Monica CA 90401

310-393-4636
The data dictionary:

In the dictionary below, for each variable a header line gives:

1.	The variable name in the 1989 CPS documentation from the BLS and below that the name for 1994 on.
2.	The variable name in the CD-ROM STATA .dta files.
3.	The range of values for that variable.
4.	The years for which that variable is available.
5.	The universe for non-missing values.

Following the header is a description of the variable, and the possible values it may take on. Sometimes a variable definition changes through time, which will be noted. Major changes in variable definitions have led to the creation of distinct variable name, usually by appending a two-digit year to the variable name. Small changes are tolerated and noted in the description. The source for all variable documentation is from the 1978, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1995, and 1998 versions of ``Attachment A of the Current Population Survey Interview Record Layout, BLS Microdata File, Basic Monthly Survey, (January.)'' CPS Documentation for March Survey is very different. Copies of the CPS layouts are on the CD-ROM in .PDF format, in the ./docs directory.

Miscellaneous variables

h-id	hhid	12 digits	79 - 95:8	all
hrhhid	15 digits	95:9 -

1979 - 1995	Digits 1-2	- regional office number
Digits 3-5	- PSU
Digits 6-9	- segment
Digits 10-12	- household serial number
1995 -	Digits 13-15	- Census county code

Item 9. This is a unique household identifier. The hhid may be used to match dwelling units across years - households are not followed if they move. Due to the structure of the survey approximately 50% of units (those with minsamp equal to 4) will appear again in the next year. Be sure to check minsamp when matching, or false matches may be found. The STATA Technical Bulletin no 12 pages 7-9 contains an article by Finis Welch on matching individuals across years. Every recent CPS and Annual Demographic File (March) documentation set includes a section on merging CPS samples across years, the main point being that while matching households is supported by the household id, there are no individual identifiers before 1994, so within household matches must be done with age, intmonth, and sex. Finally, there is no matching possible between January to September 1985 and 1986, or between July to December 1984 and 1985, or between June to December 1994 and 1995,or between January to August 1995 and 1996 because of a sample redesigns.

a-lineno	lineno	01-99	79-	all
pulineno

Item 18a.Person Line Number in household. Supposedly useful in

matching individuals across years. Before 1994 when a household

member departs other members may change line number

h-mis	minsamp	4 or 8	79-	all
hrmis

Month in Sample. Each household entering the CPS is interviewed for 4 months, then ignored for 8 months, then interviewed again for 4 more months. So for any household minsamp 8 occurs exactly one year after minsamp 4. Only households in interview months 4 and 8 are asked their usual weekly earnings/usual weekly hours. So each household appears precisely twice in an outgoing rotation group, and those are the only households included in the extracts.

Hrlonglk	hrlonglk	0,2	94-	all

Longitudinal Link Indicator. A replacement household has no members Of the original household living at this address. Note that this variable is not very useful since it refers to a replacement with respect to the prior month, not prior year.

Replacement household	0
Continuing household	2

h-year	year	79-	79-	all

Interview year (last two digits).

h-month	intmonth	01-12	79-	all
hrmonth

Interview calendar month. Matching households in successive years should have the same intmonth. A few do not, reasons unknown.

January	01
...
December	12

a_fnlwgt	weight	0-20549	79-	all
pwsswgt

This is the Final Weight. The sum of the Final Weights in each monthly survey is the US non-institutional population. The CD-ROM excludes persons under 16 years of age. The outgoing rotation group includes one-fourth of that population. So one single month MORG file is one-fourth the population 16 years of age and over, and a year of MORG would sum to 3 times that population. Zero weights appear in some years, for records of unknown function. The implied two or four (1994 on) decimals on the tapes are explicit here.

a-ernlwt	earnwt	836-77523	79-	all
pworwgt

Earnings weight for all races. Used for tabulating earnings related items. Since the CD-ROM includes all persons asked earning questions, this sums to the total population each month and 12 times the population for each MORG file. This is not precisely 4 times the weight, presumably because the Census has external knowledge of the size and composition of the labor force. The implied decimals on the tapes are explicit here. I have a letter from the BLS suggesting that this weight is preferred for all purposes.

Geography

hg-st60	state	11-95	79-	all
gestcen

1960 Census Code for state. First digit of state code is division code. These codes do not change.

New England Division	East South Central
Maine	11	Kentucky	61
New Hampshire	12	Tennessee	62
Vermont	13	Alabama	63
Massachusetts	14	Mississippi	64
Rhode Island	15
Connecticut	16	West South Central
Arkansas	71
Middle Atlantic Division	Louisiana	72
New York	21	Oklahoma	73
New Jersey	22	Texas	74
Pennsylvania	23
Mountain
East North Central Division	Montana	81
Ohio	31	Idaho	82
Indiana	32	Wyoming	83
Illinois	33	Colorado	84
Michigan	34	New Mexico	85
Wisconsin	35	Arizona	86
Utah	87
West North Central Division	Nevada	88
Minnesota	41
Iowa	42	Pacific
Missouri	43	Washington	91
North Dakota	44	Oregon	92
South Dakota	45	California	93
Nebraska	46	Alaska	94
Kansas	47	Hawaii	95
South Atlantic Division
Delaware	51
Maryland	52
D.C.	53
Virginia	54
West Virginia	55
North Carolina	56
South Carolina	57
Georgia	58
Florida	59

The city coding system changes in October 1985 from one based on 57 SMSA identifiers with each SMSA divided into a central city and non-central city component to a more complex system of 252 CMSA (Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Areas)identifiers, some subdivided into as many as 12 PMSAs (Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas) and up to 5 different Individual Central City Codes. In April of 1994 the rank codes for cities are dropped, but the MSA FIPS codes are retained. In 1995 the 1993 modification to the MSA/FIPS codes are adopted. I have been warned by the BLS that all SMSA coding for 1995 is suspect. Users should understand that the geographic coverage of metropolitan areas increases through time, and not only in Census years. Lists of metropolitan identifiers are on the CD-ROM in /docs. These values are supplied by Census until 1994, when telephone interviews start. After that the respondent is asked their address.

h-metsta	smsastat	1-2	79-	all
gemetsta

Metropolitan Status Code. The status of any given location may change in 1986. Not identified was coded as 3 or -1 on the BLS tapes.

Metropolitan	1
Non-metropolitan	2
Not identified	missing

hg-msas	centcity	1-3	79-	all
gemsast

Central City Code. This looks like more information than smsastat, but many records identified in smsastat are not identified here. Not Identifiable was coded as 4 or -1 on the BLS tapes.

Central City	1
Balance of SMSA	2
Non SMSA	3
Not identifiable	missing

na	smsa70	1-2	79-85:9	SMSAs

1970 Census SMSA size categories. See next entry for same variable after October 1985.

3 million plus	1
1-3 million	2
Not identifiable	missing

hg-mssz	smsa80	2-8	85:10-95:9	SMSAs
gemsasz	smsa93	2-7	95:10-	SMSAs

Reflects 1983 population estimates for the MSA/CMSA. In the original tape, 0 and 1 are used for missing values before 1994, then -1. In 1994 this becomes the population of the CMSA/MSA and the 2 largest categories are combined.

Not identified	missing
100,000-249,000	2
250,000-499,999	3
500,000-999,999	4
1-2.5 million	5
2.5-5 million	6
5 - 10 million	7
10 million plus	8

na	smsarank	0-57	79-85:6	all

The CPS uses the 1970 Census ranking to identify SMSAs from 1973 to 1985. See Appendix E for codes. This value is missing for all records during the 3rd quarter of 1985, and the cmsarank variable starts in the 4th quarter - no similar information is provided for 1985:7-9.

Not an SMSA	0
1970 rank	1 - 57

hg-msar	cmsarank	1-252	85:10-94:3
gemsark

CMSA/MSA Rank Code. See Appendix F List 1 for list of codes. Use caution in 1995 as the new sampling frame is introduced.

Not an CMSA	missing
1980 rank	1 - 252

hg-pmsa	pmsarank	1-12	85:10-95:8
gepmsrk

PMSA rank code identifies PMSAs within a CMSA. See Appendix F List 2 for codes.

non-divided CMSA	missing
PMSA code	1 - 12

h-inducc	icntcity	1-4	85:10
geindvcc

Individual Central City Codes identify individual central cities within CMSAs with more than one central city. See Appendix F List 3 for codes.

Other	missing
1980 CC code	1 - 4

hg-msac	msafips	80-9340	89-93	smsastat=1
gemsa	80-9360	94-

Metropolitan Statistical Area FIPS code. See Appendix F List 4 for codes. This code is missing for June, July, and August of 1995.

Not an MSA or not identified	0
1980 CC code	1 - 9340

hg-cmsa	cmsacode	7-91	89-93
gecmsa	7-97	94-

Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area Code. See List 5 of Appendix F.

not a CMSA	0
1980 CMSA code	7-91 or 7-97

Demography

a-sex	sex	1-2	79-	all
pesex

Item 18g for 84-88. There are missing values in 1985, and 1989 on.

male	1
female	2

na	race	1-3	79-88	all

'What is ... race?'

White	1
Black	2
Other	3

a-race	race	1-5	89-95	all
perace	1-4	96-

More race detail is offered for 1989 on. There is no 'other' category for 1996 on, because the Census Bureau began to allocate all 'other' responses into one of the 4 main race categories.

Item 18J.

89-95	96-
White	1	1
Black	2	2
American Indian	3	3
Asian or Pacific Islander	4	4
Other	5

a-reorgn	ethnic	1-9	79-	all
prorigin

Item 18k. 'What is the origin or descent of ...?'This variable subdivides the Hispanic community by national origin of ancestry. Non-Hispanics were sometimes coded as `A' or '10' on the original BLS tapes. In the extracts non-Hispanic is coded always as '8'. In 1994 only undocumented values of 11-13 appear.

Mexican American	1
Chicano	2
Mexicano	3
Puerto Rican	4
Cuban	5
Central or South American	6
Other Spanish	7
All other	8
Don't know	9

a-age	age	16-99	79-	all
peage

Years of age. The CPS documentation claims that this is topcoded at 90 years of age, but values up to 99 are found for 1979-1985. For 1994 on, this is derived from a question about date of birth

a-maritl	marital	1-7	79-	all
prmarsta

Item 18e. Marital status at time of enumeration. Until 1989 Widowed Divorced and separated were grouped, however in all years, <4 is married, otherwise single. In the original data 5 is used for Never Married until 1989.

Married civilian spouse present	1
Married AF spouse present	2
Married spouse absent or separated	3
Widowed or divorced	(Through 88)	4
Widowed (After 88)	4
Divorced "	5
Separated "	6
Never Married	7

a-vet	veteran	1-6	79-	males before 1989
peafwhen	then all

Item 18g. Female veterans are not distinguished until 1989. A disadvantage of the coding scheme adopted in the CPS is difficulty of adding new wars in consequence, hence no coding for the Gulf war.

Vietnam Era	1
Korean War	2
World War II	3
World War I	4
Other Service	5
Non-veteran	6

na	gradeat	0-18	79-91	all

Item 18h. Highest grade of school attended. In the original BLS coding for 1979-1988 the value coded for education is one more than the actual grade, so 13 was coded for a person who has at least started the senior year of high school. In 1989-1991 the actual grade is coded, without adding one. So that senior in high school is coded as 12 in the later system. The first edition CD-
ROM maintains the BLS coding system, while the second and subsequent editions recode the 1979-1988 values using the later system. If you are accustomed to the BLS system read this paragraph closely - the old BLS coding is not used here!

No Schooling	0
1	1
...
8	8
High School
9	9
10	10
11	11
12	12
College
13	13
14	14
15	15
16	16
17	17
18	18

a-hgc	gradecp	1-2	79-91	all

Item 18. Was highest graded attended completed?

Yes	1
No	2

a-hga	grade92	31-46	92-	all
peeduca

Item 18h. Highest grade attended. 'What is the highest level of school ... has completed or highest degree received?' In 1992 the BLS switched from years of schooling measure to a credential oriented measure. Rumor has it that a labor economist who estimated wage equations for 1991 and 1992 without noticing the difference in the CPS education measure was surprised only by the change in the constant term.

Less than 1st grade	31
1st - 4th grade	32
5th or 6th	33
7th or 8th	34
9th	35
10th	36
11th	37
12th grade NO DIPLOMA	38
High school graduate, diploma or GED	39
Some college but no degree	40
Associate degree in college – Occupational or

vocational program

41
Associate degree in college -- Academic program	42
Bachelor's degree (e.g. BA,AB,BS)	43
Master's degree (e.g. MA,MS,MEng,Med,MSW,MBA)	44
Professional school degree (e.g. MD,DDS,DVM,LLB,JD)	45
Doctorate degree (e.g. PhD, EdD)	46

na	relahh	1-6	79-88	all

Item 18b. Relationship to head of household. This is recoded from Relationship to reference person.

Head with other relatives	1
Head with no other relatives	2
Wife of head	3
Other relative of head	4
Non-relative of head with own relatives (includes wife)	5
Non-relative of head with no own relatives	6

a-rrp	relaref	1-10	89-93	all
perrp	relref94	1-12	94-95:2
relref95	1-18	95:3-

Slightly more detail is available for 94 on. In 1995 the partner category is further expanded to distinguish among roommates, partners and boarders. I was very pleased to note that the additional categories were added at the end, without disturbing existing definitions.

relaref	relref94	relref95
Head with relative	1	1	1
Head without relative	2	2	2
Husband	3
Wife	4
Spouse	3	3
Child	5	4	4
Grandchild	5	5
Parent	6	6	6
Brother/sister	7	7	7
Other relative	8	8	8
Foster child	9	9
Secondary family member:

Nonrel of hd-own rels in hh

9

10

10
Secondary individual:

Nonrel of hd-no own rels in hh

10

12

12
Partner/Roommate	11
Not Used	11
Unmarried partner with relatives	13
Unmarried partner w/o relatives	14
Housemate/rmmate with relatives	15
Housemate/rmmate w/o relatives	16
Roomer/boarder with relatives	17
Roomer/boarder w/o relatives	18

penatvty	penatvty	57-555	94-	all

Country of birth. See codes in Appendix G.

pemntvty	pemntvty	57-555	94-	all

Mother's country of birth. See codes in Appendix G.

pefntvty	pefntvty	57-555	94-	all

Father's country of birth. See codes in Appendix G.

prcitshp	prcitshp	1-5	94-	all

Citizenship status.

Native, born in US	1
Native, born in Puerto Rico or US Outlying Area	2
Native, born abroad of American Parent(s)	3
Foreign born, US citizen by naturalization	4
Foreign born, Not a citizen of the US	5

prcitflg	prcitflg	0-53	94-	all

Citizenship allocation flag. The various allocation codes are documented (but not explained)in the CPS documentation and are not repeated here.

Unallocated	0
Allocated	1-53

peinusyr	peinusyr	0-13	94-95	prcitshp>1
prinusyr	0-15	96-	prcitshp>1

Immigrant's year of entry to the United States. 'When did ... come to the United States?' Why is this asked of every person every month? Incredibly, BLS has planned in advance for the last few code meanings to change every year! The difference between the first two values is unknown, but may have to do with U.S. possessions. On the CD-ROM NIU is recoded to missing. We found no 'not foreign born' observations.

Not in Universe (Born in US)	-1
Not Foreign Born	00
Before 1950	01
1950-1959	02
1960-1964	03
1965-1969	04
1970-1974	05
1975-1979	06
1980-1981	07
1982-1983	08
1984-1985	09
1986-1987	10
1988-1989	11
1990-1991	12
1992-1995	13
Starting January 1996
1992-1993	13
1994-1997	14
Starting January 1998
1994-1995	14
1996-1998	15

Wages

Earnings are collected per hour for hourly workers, and per week for other workers. If you want a consistent hourly wage series during entire period, you should use earnwke/uhourse. This gives imputed hourly wage for weekly workers and actual hourly wage for hourly workers. But check earnwke for top-coding. Do not use any wage data that may be present for self-employed workers.

A$hrlywk	paidhr	1-2	79-93	eligible

Unedited Item 25b. 'Is ...paid by the hour on this job?' [This job is the current job from uhourse below.]

Yes	1
No	2

a-hrlywk	paidhre	1-2	79-	eligible

Edited item 25b. 'Is ...paid by the hour on this job?'

Yes	1
No	2

a$hrpay	earnhr	0-9999	79-93	paidhr=1

Item 25c. 'How much does ...earn per hour?' (in pennies). This is truncated so that when multiplied by usual hours the result is never more than $100,000 per year. Also, in some years a maximum of 9900 is enforced. For 1979 to 1984 earnhr and earnhre are top coded at 99.99. For 1985 on, the top code depends on hours worked and is selected so that earning per hour times usual hours is not more than 1923.07 per week. After examining the data we note that the top code is not uniformly applied. While there is always a density peak at the top code amount, a similar number of observations are generally present at higher wage rates. You are cautioned to test for wages at or above the top code, if appropriate. Tips are not included.

a-herntp	earnhre	0-9999	79-	paidhr=1
prernhly

Edited Item 25c. 'How much does ...earn per hour?' (in pennies) Before 1989 this is always 50 cents or more. Some years this is limited to a range of 50 - 9900. In 1994 a value of 1 cent is converted to missing. The lower bound is 10 cents in 1994 but 20 cents in 1995; 0 cents in 1996+. Top coding is the same as for earnhr.

a$grwek1-4	uearnwk	0-999	79-88	eligible
0-1999	89-93

Item 25d. Earnings per week. 'How much does...usually earn per week at this job before deductions?'(in dollars)Includes overtime tips and commissions. Use this field (or uearnwke) for hourly workers.

a-brswk	uearnwke	0-1999	79-88	eligible

Edited Item 25d. Earnings per week. How much does...usually earn per week at this job before deductions? Include any overtime pay, commissions, or tips usually received. Dollars. Some with class 'without pay' show non-zero earnings. Self-employed should not show earnings, but sometimes do. Source: locations 427-429 on the BLS tape.

a-werntp	earnwke	0-1999	79-88	eligible
0-1927	89-93
prernwa	0-1923	94-97
0-2885	98-

Edited or computed earnings per week in this job. Includes overtime tips and commissions. For hourly workers, computed Item 25a times Item 25c appears here. For weekly workers, edited Item 25d appears here. Also for 1989 on, there are no zero values, suggesting an undocumented change in universe. Source: for 1979-
1988 this is from locations 417-419 then A-WERNTP until 1994 when it becomes PRERNWA.

a%uslhrs	I25a	0-4	79-	eligible
pxernhro
a%hrlywk	I25b	"	"	"
pxernnrt
a%hrspay	I25c	"	79-93	"
pxhernal
a%grswk	I25d	"	"	paidhr=1
prwernal

These are allocation flags for the items I25a through I25d. An item may be edited but not allocated, i.e. a correction. In the pre 1989 tapes 'not allocated' is indicated by a missing value indicator. This has been changed to 0 on CD-ROM for consistency with the 1989 on coding. I25a > 0 always means that usual hours are allocated on the CD-ROM in any year. Note that STATA variable names are case sensitive.

Not allocated	0
allocated	1

For 1989 to 1993 the coding scheme is:

No change	0
Value to blank	1
Blank to value	2
Value to value	3
Allocated	4
Value to value – no error	5
Refusal to value, allocated – no error

6
Blank to NA – no error	7
Blank to NA - error	8

I25c never shows a value of 4.For 1994 and beyond allocation flags range from 0 to 53.Non-zero values signify allocated data. The types of allocations are in an appendix to the CPS documentation. Values between 23 and 33 indicate allocations based on a prior month interview in the same household, other allocations are less reliable.

Employment

For the employed, current job is the job held in the reference week (the week before the survey). Persons with 2 or more jobs are classified in the job at which they worked the most hours during the reference week. The unemployed are classified according to their latest full time job lasting two weeks or more or by the current job (full or part-time). The industry and occupation questions are also asked of departing rotations (dp) not in the labor force who have worked in the last five years. The universe for I&O is all private workers for pay, as defined by the edited class of worker variable. The universe for class of worker variables is approximately those in the labor force, or who have been in the labor force within the last 5 years (1989-
1993). For 1994 onward the universe includes those in the labor force or worked within last year. In some years non-workers may be in the universe only if their past job was full-time.

a$clswkr	class	1-8	79-93
a-clswkr	classer1	1-8	89-93
peio1cow	class94	1-8	94-

Item 23e, class of worker. Class and classer1 have the same coding, a-clswkr is the edited version of a$clswkr. Note that the years of availability are not the same. Class94 has a new coding to distinguish between non-profit and for-profit employment. Other changes are gratuitous. Some 'without pay' show earnwke positive.

class &
classer1	class94
Private, for profit	1	4
Private, non-profit	1	5
Federal Government	2	1
State Government	3	2
Local Government	4	3
Self-employed (incorporated)	5	6
Self-employed (not incorporated)	6	7
Without pay	7	8
Never worked or never worked full-time	8	missing

na	classer	1-5	79-88

Edited and recoded class of worker.

Private	1
Government	2
Self-employed	3
Without pay	4
Never worked or never worked full-time	5

a-row	Classer2	1-7	89-93	all

Edited and recoded a$clswkr. The self employed (incorporated) category seems to have been absorbed into self employed unincorporated.

Private	1
Federal Government	2
State Government	3
Local Government	4
Self-employed, unincorporated	5
Without pay	6
Never worked	7

esr	lfsr89	1-7	79-88	all
a-lfsr	lfsr94	1-7	89-93
pemlr	1-7	94-

Employment Status Recode Last week. This is later called the Labor Force Status Recode. A value 0 of undefined meaning occurs in 1989 only. These variables control the universe for many variables in this section. 'Without pay' refers to family business or farm.

esr	lfsr89	lfsr94
Working	1	1	1	E
With a job, not at work	2	2	2	E
Looking	3	3	4	U
Layoff	4	3	U
Housework	4	NILF
School	5	NILF
Unable to work	6	6	NILF
Working without pay	5	NILF
Unavailable for work	6	NILF
Other (Includes Retired)	7	5,7	NILF

na	ind70	17-937	79-82

This is the 3-digit Industry Classification from the 1970 Census. See Appendix A for codes. This variable is present on the BLS tape in 1983, but is not to be relied on and is not included in the extracts.

a-ind	ind80	10-991	83-
peio1icd

Item 23b. This is the 3-digit Industry Classification Code from the 1980 Census. See Appendix B for codes. The universe is unclear but seems to be all those working or who have worked in the last five years(1983-1988) or last year (1994 onward).

dind	1-52	79-

This is an NBER created 2-digit Detailed Industry Classification Code that is consistent over all the years covered. See appendix A. The BLS supplied 2-digit industry codes are so inconsistent with 3-digit data that they have been dropped from the CD-ROM extracts.

na	occ70	1-984	79-82	see ind70

This is the 3-digit Occupational Classification from the 1970 Census. 'What kind of work was ... doing?' This variable is present on the original tape in 1983, but is not to be relied on for that year. See Appendix C for codes.

a-occ	occ80	3-905	83-
peio1ocd

This is the 3-digit Occupational Classification from the 1980 Census. 'What kind of work was ... doing?' See Appendix D for codes. Changes after 1991 are noted in Appendix F.

na	docc70	0-44	79-82

This is the 2-digit Detailed Occupation Recode from the 1970 Census. See Appendix C for codes.	For 1983 the CPS documentation shows a field with this definition, but the contents of the field are inappropriate.

a-dtocc	docc80	1-46	83-
prdtocc1

This is the 2-digit Detail Occupation Recode from the 1980 Census.

The 1979-1982 3-digit classification would not easily be coded into this form.

a-ernel	eligible	1-2	79:5-	all
prerelg

Eligibility Flag. This flag marks non-self-employed workers for pay. In the original files "1" always marks a private worker for pay, but the alternative may be "0" or missing, depending on the year. For the CD-ROM these later values are translated to "2" for consistency. Note that this variable starts in mid- 1979.

Earnings eligible	1
other	2

a-majact	activlwr	1-7	79-88	all
1-8	89-93

Edited Item 19. 'What was...doing most of LAST WEEK?'(Major Activity)

Working	1
With a job	2
Looking for work	3
Keeping house	4
At school	5
Unable to work	6
Other/retired	7

After 1988, other is split into two categories:

Retired	7
Other	8

a$majact	doinglw	1-8	8	all

Unedited and unallocated Item 19. 'What was...doing most of LAST WEEK?' Codes are the same as a-majact above.

a-hrs1	hourslwa	0-99	79-93	working

Unedited Item 20a. 'How many hours did...work last week at all jobs?'

a$uslhrs	uhours	0-99	79-93	eligible

Unedited Item 25a.' How many hours per week does...USUALLY work at this job?' (Main job)

a-uslhrs	uhourse	0-99	79-	eligible
peernhro

Edited Item 25a. 'How many hours per week does...USUALLY work at this job?' [1989 trough 1993 the range is 1-99.] The allocation flag for this variable is noted with the earnings variables above. For 1994 on the answer 'hours vary' is translated to missing in the extracts.

a$uslft	uhours35	1-2	79-93	ESR=1&item 20a<35

Unedited and unallocated Item 20c. 'Does...USUALLY work 35 hours or more a week at this job?' Part 1.

Blank	missing
Yes	1
No	2

a-hrs1	hourslw	1-99	79-	working
pehractt

Edited item 20a. 'How many hours did...work last week at all jobs?' For 1994 and after this is allowed to go to 198 hours on the original tape. This is truncated on the CD-ROM.

a-ftreas	reasonlw	1-15	79-93	uhourse<34
perhrrsn3	reason94	1-13	94-	hourslw<35
Edited Item 20c. Part 2.'What is the main reason ... worked less than 35 hours last week?'

79-93	94-
NIU (89-93)	.
Slack work	01	1
Material shortage	02
Plant or machine repair	03
New job started during week	04
Job terminated during week	05
Job started or ended during week	3
Could only find part-time work	06
Holiday	07	6
Labor dispute	08	9
Bad weather	09	10
Own illness	10	5
On vacation	11	4
Too busy with school, house	12
Did not want full-time work	13
Full time work week is <35 hours	14
Other	15	13
Seasonal work	2
Child care problems	7
Other family / personal obligations	8
School / Training	11
Civic / military duty	12

a-whyabs	absentlw	1-8	79-93	not at work or looking
peabsrsn	absent94	1-14	94-	not at work
Item 21a. 'Why was...absent from work last week?' Note that the Universe changes from the labor force to just those with a job for 1994 on.

absentlw	absent94
Own illness	1	5
On vacation	2	4
Bad weather	3	10
Labor dispute	4	9
New job to begin within 30 days	5	3
Temporary layoff (under 30 days)	6	1
Indefinite layoff (30 days or more)	7	1
Other	8	14
Slack work / business conditions	2
Child care problems	6
Other family / personal	7
Maternity / paternity	8
School / training	11
Civic / military	12
Does not work	13

a$ftreas	why35lw	1-15	79-93
prptrea	why3594	1-23	94-	uhourse<35

Unedited and unallocated Item 20c. Part 2. 'What is the reason ...USUALLY works less than 35 hours a week? 'In 1994 and on full and part-time workers are distinguished. A few persons with hours>34 are included here, reasons unknown.

why35lw	why3594
Full-time	Part-time
Blank	missing
Slack work	1	1	14
Material shortage	2
Plant or machine repair	3
New job started last week	4	3
Job terminated during week	5	3
Could only find part-time work	6	15
Holiday	7	6
Labor dispute	8	9
Bad weather	9	10
Own illness	10	5	19
On vacation	11	4
Too busy with house, school, etc.	12
Did not want full-time work	13
Full-time work week under 35 hours	14
Other	15	13	23
Seasonal	2	16
Child care problems	7	17
Other family obligations	8	18
School / training	11	20
Civic / military	12
Social Security limit on earnings	21

na	ftpt79	0-5	79-88	civilians

Full-time or part-time labor force status.

Not in labor force	0
Employed full-time	1
Part-time for economic reasons	2
Unemployed full-time	3
Employed part-time	4
Unemployed part-time	5

a-wkstat	ftpt89	1-7	1-12	all
prwkstat	ftpt94	1-12	94-

I don't know if these categories fully enumerate the possibilities, 'economic reasons' refer to labor demand factors.

ftpt89	ftpt94
Not in labor force	1	1
Full-time schedule	2	2
PT for economic reasons usually FT	3	3
PT for non-economic reasons usually PT	4	7
PT for economic reasons usually PT	5	6
Unemployed FT	6	11
Unemployed PT	7	12
Not at work usually FT	5
PT for non-economic reasons usually FT	4
FT usually PT for economic reasons	8
FT usually PT for non-economic reasons	9
Not at work usually PT	10

na	ptstat	0,5,6	79-88	all

Part-time status.

All other	0
Voluntary part-time workers	5
Part-time for economic reasons	6

a-ftpt	studftpt	1-2	84-	age 16-24
peschft

Item 26b. 'Is...enrolled in a school as a full-time or part-time student [this week]?' (There is no documentation for a code for non-students, but they are coded as missing).

Full-time	1
Part-time	2

Union variables

unionmm	unionmm	1-2	84-93	eligible

Item 25E (Unedited). On this job, is... a member of a labor union or an employee association similar to a union? The CPS documentation claims that the universe is all departing rotations, but class<5 (Private or government worker for pay) would seem to be the actual universe.

Yes	1
No	2

a-unmem	unionmme	1-2	83-	eligible
peernlab

Item 25E (Edited). On this job, is...a member of a labor union or an employee association similar to a union? The universe is subject to the same comment mentioned under unionmm above.

Yes	1
No	2

a$uncov	unioncov	1-2	83-	not union members
peerncov

Item 25F (Edited). On this job, is...covered by a union or employee association contract? (Note universe: What about union members not covered by a contract?)

Yes	1
No	2

Crosswalk CPS Names

NBER Name

Years

89-93 Name

94-99 Name
Miscellaneous variables

hhid

Household ID

89-95:8

H-ID

HRHHID
hhhid95

"

95:9-	"

lineno

Personal Line Number

89-

a-lineno

PULINENO

minsamp

Month in sample

89-

H-MIS

HRMIS

hrlonglk

Longitudinal Link Indicator

94-

HRLONGLK

year

89-

H-YEAR

H-YEAR

intmonth

Interview month

89-

H-MONTH

HRMONTH

weight

Final Weight x 100

89-

A-FNLWGT

PWSSWGT

earnwt

Earnings weight for all races

89-

A-ERNLWT

PWORWGT
Geography

state

State

89-

HG-ST6O

GESTCEN

smsastat

SMSA status code

89-

H-METSTA

GEMETSTA

centcity

Central city status

89-

HG-MSAS

GEMSAST

smsa70

SMSA size

75-85:9

smsa80

"

85:10-95:9

HG-MSSZ

GEMSASZ

smsa93

"

95:10-

GECMSASZ

smsarank

SMSA ranking

pmsarank

PMSA ranking

89-94

HG-PMSA

GEPMSRK

cmsarank

CMSA/MSA ranking

89-94

HG-MSAR

GEMSARK

icntcity

Individual central city code

89-

H-INDVCC

GEINDVCC

msafips

MSA/PMSA FIPS code

89-

HG-MSAC

GEMSA

cmsacode

CMSA code	89-

HG-CMSA

GECMSA
Demography

sex

Sex

89-

A-SEX

PESEX

race

Race

89-

A-RACE

PERACE

ethnic

Ethnicity

89-

A-REORGN

PRORIGIN

age

Age

89-

A-AGE

PEAGE

marital

Marital Status

89-

A-MARITL

PRMARSTA

veteran

Veteran

89-

A-VET

PEAFWHEN

gradeat

Highest grade attended

89-91

A-HGA

gradecp

Completed highest grade?

89-91

A-HGC

grade92

Highest grade attended

92-

A-HGA

PEEDUCA

relahh

Relationship to hh head

relaref

Relationships to reference person	89-93

A-RRP

relref94

"

94-95:2

PERRP

relref95

"

95:3-

"

penatvty

Country of birth

94-

PENATVTY

pemntvty

Mother's country of birth

94-

PEMNTVTY

pefntvty

Father's country of birth

94-

PEFNTVTY

prcitshp

Citizenship status

94-

PRCITSHP

prcitflg

Citizen allocation flag	94-

PRCITFLG

peinusyr

Immigrant's year of entry

94-95

PEINUSYR
"

"

96-

PRINUSYR
Wages

paidhr	Paid by the hour	89-93	A$HRLYWK

paidhre

"

89-

A-HRLYWK

PEERNHRY

earnhr

Earnings per hour

89-93

A$HRPAY

earnhre

"

89-

A-HERNTP

PRERNHLY

uearnwk

Earnings per week

89-

A$grwek1

uearnwke

"

earnwke

"

PRERNWA

I25a

" : paid by hour

89-

A%USLHRS

PXERNHRO

I25b

" : paid by hour

89-

A%HRLYWK

PXERNNRT

I25c

" : earnings per hour

89-93

A%HRSPAY

PRHERNAL

I25d

" : usual earnings per hour

89-93

A%GRSWK

PRWERNAL

Employment

class

Class of worker

89-93

A$CLSWKR

classer1

"

89-93

A-CLSWKR

class94

"

94-

PEIO1COW

classer

"

classer2

"

89-93

A-RCOW

esr

Employment status recode

lfsr89

"

89-93

A-LFSR

lfsr94

"

94-

PEMLR

ind70

3-digit industry code

ind80

"

89-

A-IND

PEIO1ICD

dind

"

89-

occ70

3-digit occupation code

occ80

"

89-

A-OCC

PEIO1OCD

docc70

2-digit occupation code

docc80

"

89-

A-DTOCC

PRDTOCC1

eligible

Eligibility flag

89-

A-ERNEL

PRERELG

activlwr

Major activity last week

89-93

A-MAJACT

doinglw

What was doing most last week

89-93

A$MAJACT

hourslwa

Usual hours

89-93

A-HRS1

uhours

"

89-93

A$USLHRS

uhourse

"

89-

A-USLHRS

PEERHRO

uhours35

Usually works >=35 hrs at this job

89-93

A$USLFT

hourslw

How many hrs last week all jobs

89-

A-HRS1

PEHRACTT

reasonlw

Reason <=35 hours last week

89-93

A-FTREAS

reason94

"

94-

PEHRRSN3

absentlw

Why absent from work last week?

89-93

A-WHYABS

absent94

"

94-

PEABSRSN

why35lw

Why not at least 35 hrs last week

89-93

A$FTREAS

why3594

"

94-

PRPTREA

ftpt79

Full-time or part-time status

ftpt89

"

89-93

A-WKSTAT

ftpt94

"

94-

PRWKSTAT

ptstat

Part-time status

studftpt	Enrolled as a student full/part time

89-

A$FTPT	PESCHFT

Union Status

unionmm

Union member

89-93

A$UNMEM

unionmme

"

89-

A-UNMEM

PEERNLAB

unioncov

Covered by a union contract

89-

A$UNCOV

PEERNCOV