TY  - JOUR
AU  - Alexander,J. Trent
AU  - Davern,Michael
AU  - Stevenson,Betsey
TI  - Inaccurate age and sex data in the Census PUMS files: 
Evidence and Implications
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15703
PY  - 2010
Y2  - January 2010
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15703
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15703.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
J. Trent Alexander
Minnesota Population Center
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455
E-Mail: jta@umn.edu

Michael Davern
NORC at the University of Chicago
55 E Monroe Suite 3000
Chicago Il 60603
E-Mail: Davern-Michael [Davern-Michael@norc.org]

Betsey Stevenson
The Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania
1454 Steinberg - Dietrich Hall
3620 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Tel: 215/898-3019
Fax: 215/898-7635
E-Mail: betseys@wharton.upenn.edu
AB  - We discover and document errors in public use microdata samples ("PUMS files") of the 2000 Census, the 2003-2006 American Community Survey, and the 2004-2009 Current Population Survey. For women and men ages 65 and older, age- and sex-specific population estimates generated from the PUMS files differ by as much as 15% from counts in published data tables. Moreover, an analysis of labor force participation and marriage rates suggests the PUMS samples are not representative of the population at individual ages for those ages 65 and over. PUMS files substantially underestimate labor force participation of those near retirement ages and overestimate labor force participation rates of those at older ages. These problems were an unintentional by-product of the misapplication of a newer generation of disclosure avoidance procedures carried out on the data. The resulting errors in the public use data could significantly impact studies of people ages 65 and older, particularly analyses of variables that are expected to change by age.
ER  -