Description
For all persons, INCWKCOM reports the total income they received from workers' compensation. Using the reported income information, annual income amounts were then edited and imputed for every record on the full-year file. Please refer to the IPUMS user note on Income Data in MEPS for more information on the collection, editing (including top- and bottom-coding), and imputation of income variables in MEPS, as well as changes to the target population for income data collection over time. Users may also be interested in the data quality flag, QINCWKCO, which reports the editing methods used for INCWKCOM.
If respondents needed more information about what was meant by workers' compensation income, they were provided with the additional definition: workers' compensation is a "system, required by law, of compensating workers injured or disabled in connection with work. This system establishes the liability of an employer for injuries or sickness that arise over and in the course of employment. The liability is created without regard to the fault or negligence of the employer. The benefits under this system generally include hospital and other medical payments and compensation for loss of income."
Information on the IPUMS defined-universe for this variable
Users may wish to note that IPUMS defines the universe for this variable as all persons because of the family-style question associated with this income source. Family-style questions ask the family respondent if anyone in the family received income from this source. In addition to the opportunity to report workers' compensation income via the family-style question, all persons in the household were eligible to list additional income from "other" sources, which includes income from sources previously asked about in the survey.
INCWKCOMP is an 8-digit numeric variable with 2 implied decimals. That is, values of 01234567 should be interpreted as 12345.67. The command files delivered with IPUMS extracts automatically divide INCWKCOMP by 100, so no further adjustment is needed.
999999.96: Not in Universe
999999.97: Unknown-refused
999999.98: Unknown-not ascertained
999999.99: Unknown-don't know
Comparability
For more information on how income data were collected by MEPS and changes to the imputation methods for these questions over time, please see the IPUMS user note on Income Data in MEPS.
Beginning to 1999, persons could only report income in full dollar amounts. Prior to 1999, persons could report income in dollars and cents.
Universe
- 1996-2021: All persons.
Availability
- 1996-2021
Weights
- 1996-2021 : PERWEIGHT
