The Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) is the most widely used type of Current Population Survey (CPS) data, but it is cumbersome to use the ASEC as part of a longitudinal CPS panel, especially linking to non-March months. In this paper, we detail the challenges associated with linking the ASEC to monthly CPS data, outline the creation of an identifier that links the ASEC and the March Basic Monthly data from 1989 through 2017, and provide substantive examples that illustrate the value of combining the ASEC with monthly data. The variable, MARBASECID, which we created to link ASEC and March monthly CPS data, represents a significant contribution to social and economic data infrastructure, saving individual researchers from having to duplicate the effort required to create linkages between ASEC and monthly CPS data.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Design and Methodology: Current Population Survey. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of the Census. 2006. Technical Paper 66.
2.
DrewJAFloodSWarrenJR. Making full use of the longitudinal design of the Current Population Survey: Methods for linking records across 16 months. Journal of Economic and Social Measurement. 2014; 39(3): 121.
3.
U.S. Census Bureau. Current Population Survey, 2010 ASEC. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of the Census. 2011. Technical Paper.
4.
ThompsonMShapiroG. The Current Population Survey: An Overview. Annals of Economic and Social Measurement. 1973 April; 2(2): 105-129.
5.
WolterKMPolivkaAELubichA. Evolution of the Current Population Survey. Wiley StatsRef: Statistics Reference Online. 2015.
6.
FrankelLRStockJS. On the sample survey of unemployment. Journal of the American Statistical Association. 1942; 37: 77-80.
7.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Design and Methodology: Current Population Survey. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of the Census. 2002. Technical Paper 63RV.
8.
MadrianBCLefgrenLJ. An approach to longitudinally matching Current Population Survey (CPS) respondents. Journal of Economic and Social Measurement. 2000 Jan 1; 26(1): 31-62.
9.
FengS. The longitudinal matching of Current Population Surveys: A proposed algorithm. Journal of Economic and Social Measurement. 2001 Jan 1; 27(1, 2): 71-91.
10.
FengS. Longitudinal matching of recent Current Population Surveys: Methods, non-matches and mismatches. Journal of Economic and Social Measurement. 2008 Jan 1; 33(4): 241-52.
11.
KatzATenterKSidelP. Comparison of alternative ways of deriving panel data from the annual demographic files of the Current Population Survey. Review of Public Data Use. 1984 Mar 1; 12(1): 35-44.
12.
PittsA. Matching adjacent years of the Current Population Survey [unpublished manuscript]. Los Angeles, CA: Unicon Research Corporation. 1988.
13.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. Using the Current Population Survey as a Longitudinal Data Base. US. 1980. Report 608.
14.
AllenJT. A guide to the 1960-1971 Current Population Survey Files. The Annals of Economic and Social Measurement. 1973 April; 2(2): 187-197.
15.
U.S. Census Bureau. Annual Demographic File (March Supplement of Current Population Survey). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of the Census. 1978. Technical Documentation.
16.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. Redesign of the sample for the Current Population Survey: Current Population Survey. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of the Census. 2014. Technical Documentation.
17.
SemegaJLWelniakE, Jr. The effects of the changes to the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement on estimates of income. Paper presented at: Allied Social Science Association (ASSA) Research Conference. 2015 Jan 3–5; Boston, MA, USA.
18.
U.S. Census Bureau. American Time Use Survey User’s Guide: Understanding ATUS 2003 to 2013. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of the Census. 2014. Technical Paper.
19.
Appendix for March 1994. Washington, D.C.; U.S. Census Bureau. 1996. Available from http://www.nber.org/morg/docs/usernote.asc.
20.
GundersenCZiliakJP. Childhood food insecurity in the US: Trends, causes, and policy options. The Future of Children. 2014; 24(2): 1-9.
21.
WightVKaushalNWaldfogelJGarfinkelI. Understanding the link between poverty and food insecurity among children: Does the definition of poverty matter? Journal of Children and Poverty. 2014 Jan 2; 20(1): 1-20.
22.
BradyDBakerRSFinniganR. When Unionization Disappears State-Level Unionization and Working Poverty in the United States. American Sociological Review. 2013 Oct 1; 78(5): 872-96.
23.
U.S. Census Bureau. Analysis of Perturbed and Unperturbed Age Estimates. 2008. Available from https://www.census.gov/cps/user_note_age_estimates.html.
