Studying Change Over Time

Examples of Tabulating Data from The Concatenated File of Public Use Microdata from March Current Population Survey Files

For 1962 through 2008

June 24, 2009

The following exercises are all based on using PDQ-Explore to access the data set. The data set contains microdata gathered from the March Current Population Survey from1962 through 2008. and American Community Survey (ACS)

Setup entries in PDQ-Explore are not case-sensitive. Variable names in the following exercises are in lower-case, but they may be entered in the setup windows in upper, lower, or mixed case.

Suggestion: Keep a window open to the IPUMS-USA documentation:

http://cps.ipums.org/cps/documentation.shtml

Click on “Variables” under “Documentation”

Example One / Number of Persons Included in the March CPS: 1962 to 2007
Query Type / Tabulation
Universe/Selection / blank
Row / y2k
Col / sex
For / blank
Weight / default
Options / Total for rows
Example Two / Actual number of Persons Included in the March CPS: 1962 to 2007
Query Type / Tabulation
Universe/Selection / blank
Row / y2k
Col / sex
For / blank
Weight / default weight off
Options / Total for rows
Example Three. / The changing gender composition of employment. Are there more men than women at work in the United States? How has this changed over time?
Question:
Query Type: / tabulation
Universe/Selection:
Row: / year
Column: / sex
For:
Weight: / Default
Options: / Percent by row
Example Four. / Economic polarization: Is it occurring? Consider four occupations: physicians, secondary school teachers, plumbers and butchers who reported wage and salary earnings in 1970 or 2008? Has the share of total earnings in that occupation going to the top 20 percent of earners in that occupation gone up or gone down in the last 38 years
Question:
Query Type: / Quantiles
Universe/Selection: / (year=1970|year=2008) & (occ1990=84|occ1990=157|occ1990=585|occ1990=
686) & incwage>0 & incwage<999998
Row: / occ1990
Column: / year
For:
Weight: / Default
Quantile Order and
Quantile Expression / 10 incwage/1000
Example Five. / Has the number of different employers a worker had increased or decreased since 1979?
Question:
Query Type: / tabulation
Universe/Selection: / year>1979 & numemps>0 & age>17
Row: / year
Column: / numemps
For:
Weight: / Default
Options: / Percent by row
Example Six / Poverty Rate for Single Years
Query Type / Tabulation
Universe/Selection / year>1967 & poverty>0
Row / year
Col / poverty=10
For / blank
Weight / default
Option / percent by row
Example Seven / Poverty Race for Whites and Blacks by Single Years
Query Type / Tabulation
Universe/Selection / year>1967 & poverty>0 & race<201
Row / year
Col / poverty=10
For / race
Weight / default
Option / percent by row
Example Five / Health Insurance Provided by Employer for Employed Persons
See Documentation as this question changed between 1987 and 1988 and again between 1994 and 1995. The question about employer provided health insurance was first asked in 1980
Query Type / Tabulation
Universe/Selection / year>1979 &inclugh>0
Row / year
Col / inclugh
For / blank
Weight / default
Option / percent by row
Example Seven / Selecting Men and Women Born in Mexico
Universe/Selection / year>1993 & bpl=20000
Row / year
Col / sex
For / blank
Weight / default
Option / total for rows
Example Eight / Selecting First and Second Mexican Immigrants
Universe/Selection / year>1993 & (bpl=20000 | mbpl=20000 | fbpl=20000)
Row / year
Col / sex
For / blank
Weight / default
Option / total for rows
Example Nine / Selecting US Born Second Generation Mexican Migrants
Universe/Selection / year>1993 & bpl <=12090 & (mbpl=20000|fbpl=20000)
Row / year
Col / sex
For / blank
Weight / default
Option / total for rows