Annual Earning File Update The NBER extracts of the famous CPS Annual Earnings File (also known as the Merged Outgoing Rotation Groups) are now available on a new CD that runs through 1997. Extracts from 228 Monthly Current Population Surveys cover 1979 through 1997. 50 or more variables each month are selected for continuity across years. Now including the interview month. See the FAQ for a complete list of variables. A new unified hardcopy documentation set is included with each CD. There are 25,000 records or more per month. This subset includes all adult respondents in the outgoing rotation group each month. All the data you need to explore or explain wage determination, union wage effects, inter-industry wage differentials, wage inequality, and employment discrimination. Used in many famous papers. No copyright restrictions on CD use. In STATA .dta format for PC,MAC or UNIX. If you don't have STATA use STAT/Transfer to convert to other popular PC statistical package or database formats. See below for phone numbers. ISO 9660 format usable on any PC, MAC or workstation with a CD-ROM drive. $100 postpaid ($115 overseas). Check, VISA, or Mastercard accepted. (No POs). Be sure to specify CPS Labor Extracts . Order from: Queries may be made to: Publications Department feenberg@nber.org NBER 1050 Massachusettes Ave Cambridge MA 02138 617-868-3900 (voice) 617-868-2742 (fax) Frequently Asked Questions: What is the CPS? This is the monthly household survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to measure labor force participation and employment. 50-60,000 households per month are queried. Is this a panel survey? Not really. Households are not followed if they move. But see the next question. What are the Outgoing Rotation Groups? Every household that enters the CPS is interviewed each month for 4 months, then ignored for 8 months, then interviewed again for 4 more months. Usual weekly hours/earning questions are asked only at households in their 4th and 8th interview. These outgoing interviews are the only ones included in the CD-ROM. New households enter each month, so one fourth the households are in an outgoing rotation each month. Is this the same as the March Annual Demographic Survey? No, income and demographic questions asked in March are not available on the CD-ROM. Weekly earnings are available, annual earnings are not. Basic demographic variables (age, sex, race, and marital status) are available, but not detailed information about children's ages or annual income. What do the weights sum to? Remember that each month the total of weights for all the persons in the sample sums to the total population 16 years of age or greater. But only one fourth of the sample is in an outgoing rotation group. So 12 months of data sums to three times the total population. Is software included on the CD-ROM? No. Can I use a spreadsheet? No, the files are much too large for that. You will need some experience with a statistical package or database language to make use of this data. What format are the files? We convert the original EBCDIC files to STATA binary save files for ease of use. The STATA files are compact and portable across operating systems and machine types. A year's data can be read off the CD-ROM in only a few seconds. If you prefer another statistical package, the program STAT/Transfer from Circle systems will convert STATA files into many popular PC formats. You can order STATA from 800-STATAPC or STAT/Transfer from 206-682-3783. What variables are included? The following list is typical, there is some variation over the years. Interview Month Age Month in sample Marital status State Race Central city status Major activity last week MSA/PMSA FIPS code How many hours last week? PMSA ranking Reason <= 35 hours last week CMSA/MSA ranking Why absent from work last week? MSA/CMSA size 3-digit industry code CMSA code 3-digit occupation code Metropolitan status code Class of worker Central city code Usual hours Household ID Paid by the hour Sex Union member Veteran Ethnicity Highest grade attended Labor force status recode Whether completed highest grade Full-time or part-time status What was doing most of last week Detailed industry code How many hours last all jobs Detailed occupation code Usually works >= 35 hrs at this job Earnings eligibility flag Why not at least 35 hours last week Class of worker 2 Class of worker Earnings per hour Usual hours Earnings per week Paid by the hour Final weight Earnings per hour Earnings weight for all races Usual earnings per week Usual hours (I25a) allocation flag Union member Paid by hour (I25b) allocation flag Covered by a union contract Earnings/hr (I25c) allocation flag Enrolled as a student full/part time Usl Earn/hr (I25d) allocation flag relationship to reference person