Description

PAYIFABS reports whether respondents received wages or salary for the time that they were absent from work during the preceding week.

Comparability

Along with changes in the universe, there were small changes in question wording over time. For 1962-1985, interviewers asked, "Is [this person] getting wages or salary for any of the time off last week?" The question for 1986-1993 added the phrase "from his/her employer" after "wages or salary." Beginning in 1994, the question was, "Are you being paid by your employer for any of the time off last week?" The basic meaning of the questions is the same, but specifying that the source of pay was the person's employer drew a clearer distinction between compensation from an employer during time off work (such as paid vacation time or sick leave) and pay from some other source (such as union strike benefits or workmen's compensation).

In the original public use files for 1962-1967, self-employed persons did not receive a separate code. In IPUMS-CPS, persons who reported themselves as self-employed in CLASSWKR consistently receive a code of 3 in PAYIFABS.

Universe

Flags

Unharmonized Variables

• UH_PAYABS_A1
• UH_PAYABS_A2
• UH_PAYABS_A3