This is a 20-digit numeric variable.

Description

SPMCHXPNS records the total child care expenditures reported by members of the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) family unit.

The capped value of child care and work expenditures are used in the construction of the SPM and is available in the SPMCAPXPNS.

For more information on the child care expenditure measures, see the Census Bureau's " Child Care Costs in the Current Population Survey's Annual Social and Economic Supplement" report.

SPMCHXPNS is expressed in current dollars; users can adjust for inflation using Consumer Price Index adjustment factors.

Comparability

Aside from the effects of inflation, SPMCHXPNS is comparable across years from 2010 to 2018.

In 2019, the Census Bureau implemented a new processing system to accommodate survey changes. These changes affect income and relationship variables, making poverty measurements before and after 2019 incomparable. For more information on this overhaul, see our guide to the 2019 ASEC updates.

In 2020, the Census re-released the SPM Research File with revised SPM variables which incorporated improved methodology (which was originally introduced with the 2021 ASEC file). This variable contains the originally released SPM variable data, not the revised data. IPUMS created alternative SPM variables for the 2020 samples. For information on these alternative SPM variables in the 2020 ASEC, see our documentation on the re-release of the 2019 SPM research file in the 2020 ASEC that lists all revised variables and describes methodological improvements that impact SPM resource and threshold variables.

Universe

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Unharmonized Variables