TRIM3 Race Codes

This document discusses the race codes that are available in TRIM3. Codes for all the TRIM3 race fields discussed herein are shown at the end of this documentation.

Prior to the March 2003 CPS survey, race in the public-use data was reported in one of four categories: (1) White, (2) Black, (3) American Indian or Aleut Eskimo, and (4) Asian or Pacific Islander. Surveys prior to 1996 additionally included a fifth category, "Other," for persons not in one of the first four. These categories included both single-race and multiple-race persons. This information is reported by the TRIM field DetailedRace and, in a collapsed form (Black, White, and Other) by the TRIM field RaceAndSex.

Beginning with the March 2003 CPS, survey respondents may designate multiple races, and race is reported in both single-race and multi-race categories. The public use data include a detailed race field that reports race in one of 21 categories broken down as follows:

• 5 single-race categories (White only, Black only, American Indian or Alaska Native only, Asian only, and Hawaiian or Pacific Islander only)
• 9 categories for combinations of two of the above races;
• 4 categories for combinations of three of the above races;
• 1 category for a combination of four of the above races;
• 1 category that encompasses the remaining combination of two races and the remaining 6 categories of three races; and
• 1 category that encompasses the remaining 4 categories of four races and the combination of all five races.

The new reporting scheme is consistent with 1997 OMB standards and is very similar to Census 2000. It differs from Census 2000 in not allowing a response in a sixth category ("Some Other Race") and because the CPS interviews do not allow and/or discourage responses of Hispanic categories on the race question.

The new 21-category CPS detailed race field is made available in TRIM as DetailedRace2002. The former race field, DetailedRace, is not coded beyond the March 2002 CPS.

A new collapsed race field is made available beginning with the March 2003 CPS that is called SingleRaceRecode. It reports the same five single-race categories as does DetailedRace2002 and includes a sixth category for all other responses.

Historically, TRIM has made widespread use of race in RaceAndSex that, as the name implies, also includes information about gender. As for race, it distinguishes only three categories-White, Black, and Other. With the change in the reporting of race on the CPS, a decision had to be made about how to code RaceAndSex. Was it to reproduce the earlier RaceAndSex field as closely as possible by collapsing the detailed categories in such a way as to reproduce approximately the same racial distribution, or would it be coded with the single-race white and black categories now being reported on the CPS with all other race categories comprising the "other" category of the RaceAndSex field?

The decision was made to do both. Beginning with the March 2003 CPS, the existing RaceAndSex field is coded from the single-race white and black categories now reported on the CPS. The "other" category of RaceAndSex includes all other races and all multi-race categories. A new field, OldRaceAndSex, is coded from a race collapsing scheme that is designed to closely reproduce the racial distribution of the former RaceAndSex field. Analysts are advised that the racial distribution of RaceAndSex beginning with the March 2003 survey data will not match that obtained using the same field from earlier surveys.

The scheme for collapsing multiple race categories into single race categories is designed to replicate historical classifications of White, Black, American Indian/Native Alaskan, and Asian/Pacific Islander. Coding preference is first given to Black, then to Asian/Pacific Islander, then to White, then finally to American Indian.

Hispanic origin is considered in coding the "2 or 3 races" and "4 or 5 races" categories of DetailedRace2002. Most persons in these race categories are not Hispanic. In Census data, well over 50% of both Hispanics and non-Hispanics in Category 21 ("4 or 5 races") are recoded as Black. For Category 20 ("2 or 3 races"), 54% of non-Hispanics are recoded as Black in the Census data, but only 40% of Hispanics are recoded as Black. The rest are Asian, Pacific Islander. The hierarchical recoding scheme developed codes Category 20 Hispanics as Asian/Pacific Islander, Category 20 non-Hispanics as Black, and all Category 21 as Black.

The categories for all fields discussed above are shown below.

TRIM3 Race Fields

DetailedRace (Discontinued beginning with the March 2003 CPS)

1. White
2. Black
3. American Indian, Aleut Eskimo
4. Asian or Pacific Islander
5. Other (only in surveys prior to 1996)

DetailedRace2002 (Available beginning with the March 2003 CPS)

1. White only
2. Black only
3. AIAN only
4. Asian only
5. Hawaiian/PI (HP) only
6. White-Black
7. White-AIAN
8. White-Asian
9. White-HP
10. Black-AIAN
11. Black-Asian
12. Black-HP
13. AIAN-Asian
14. Asian-HP
15. White-Black-AIAN
16. White-Black-Asian
17. White-AIAN-Asian
18. White-Asian-HP
19. White-Black-AIAN-Asian
20. 2 or 3 races
21. 4 or 5 races

SingleRaceRecode (Available beginning with the March 2003 CPS)

1. White only
2. Black only
3. AIAN only
4. Asian only
5. Hawaiian/PI (HP) only
6. All other

RaceAndSex (Available for all surveys but coded with single race White and Black categories beginning with the March 2003 CPS)

1. White, male
2. Black, male
3. Other nonwhite, male
4. White, female
5. Black, female
6. Other nonwhite, female

OldRaceAndSex (Available beginning with the March 2003 CPS, designed to reproduce earlier race distributions in RaceAndSex)

1. White, male
2. Black, male
3. Other nonwhite, male
4. White, female
5. Black, female
6. Other nonwhite, female