Thread by @bencasselman

BREAKING: @uscensusbureau says it is delaying changes to the monthly Current Population Survey data release that would have affected the Atlanta Fed’s wage tracker and other key measures.
census.gov/content/dam/Ce…

cc @nick_bunker @arindube @MichaelRStrain and many others

"Given the historical circumstances presented by the COVID-19
pandemic and its impact on the economy, combined with the urgent need for workforce data, the
Census Bureau has decided to defer the introduction of updated confidentiality protections."

"New protections will be introduced in a
phased approach beginning later this year that will preserve the CPS time series and better prepare data users for the changes."

Note that Census is still planning to start rounding hourly/weekly earnings data and suppressing certain geographic data, although not clear exactly when that will start ("later this year").

The release doesn't say directly whether this phase-in will avoid breaking the year-over-year links that are key to the Atlanta wage tracker (and other research). But my sense is that it will.

This is what the release says:
"The 2022 CPS PUF will retain characteristics of the 2021 CPS PUF that enable data users to conduct year-over-year time series analysis and other research activities ... specifically the public-use file household identifier."

(I have asked census to clarify this. Not sure I'll hear anything back on the Friday evening before a long weekend, though.)

Note: I have now confirmed that the longitudinal links will be maintained permanently. So while the other changes will be phased in, they’ll be done in a way that preserve the longitudinal linkages.