I just received this and I posting it for those following the PUMS
issue.
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Subject: News on 2000 PUMS
From: "Steve Ruggles" <ruggles(a)hist.umn.edu>
Dear PUMS Users:
I am happy to report success in our efforts to preserve needed detail in
the 2000 PUMS. Over 1,000 of you voiced your concerns to the Census
Bureau by completing the Task Force on the 2000 PUMS survey and over a
hundred also directly contacted the Census Bureau Director and Principal
Associate Director for Programs.
The Census Bureau took our concerns seriously. In a report dated October
19, the Bureau has adopted all the principal recommendations of the Task
Force. Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) of 100,000 population will be
identified in the 5% sample; in the 1% sample, however, PUMAs will have
a minimum threshold of 400,000. As recommended in the Task Force report,
subject categories with at least 10,000 persons nationally will be
identified in the 5% sample; even greater detail, closely comparable to
the 1990 PUMS, will
be available in the 1% sample. In both the 5% and the 1% files,
individual ages will be preserved through age 90.
By taking these steps, the Census Bureau has confirmed its reputation
for scientific integrity and resisted the pressure to compromise the
PUMS files. While taking measured and responsible steps to ensure
respondent confidentiality, the Bureau has also preserved the usefulness
of the data for essential scientific and policy research applications.
For full details, the complete report is available at
http://www.ipums.org/~census2000/. Please note that some of the issues
addressed in the memo--particularly regarding the race variables--are
not yet finalized and may change in the upcoming weeks. My thanks to
Barry Edmonston for a copy of the report, and to the Bureau for giving
us permission to post it.
Steve Ruggles
Chair, Task Force on Census 2000
Steven Ruggles
Minnesota Population Center
http://www.pop.umn.edu
537 Heller, University of Minnesota
271 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455
FAX: (612) 624-7096
PHONE: (612) 624-5818
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