This is a 17-digit numeric variable.

Description

SPMWKXPNS reports family work expenses and is used in the construction of the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). Work expenses are estimated using the reported number of weeks worked by members of the SPM family unit.

For more information on the estimation of work and child care expenditures for the SPM, see the Census Bureau's "The Research Supplemental Poverty Measure" report.

Comparability

Aside from the effects of inflation, SPMWKXPNS 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 sample. 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

Flags

Unharmonized Variables