The help file for the -ddf2dct- (https://fmwww.bc.edu/repec/bocode/d/ddf2dct.html) program suggests the NBER

http://data.nber.org/data/cps-basic2/
http://data.nber.org/data/current-po...rvey-data.html

as a source for ddf files describing the layout of Current Population Survey public use micro-data files. However most of the documentation files offered by us only superficially resemble true ddf files. They lack the initial D, T or V character that marks a line as a variable, universe or value, are damaged by processing through MS Word (various non-ascii characters are nonuniformly present in crucial locations) , use tabs and spaces randomly with only visual fidelity resulting and are otherwise quite difficult to parse.. All of this damage happens before we get the files. The files we offer are recently downloaded from the Census website, e.g.:

https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/datasets/2020/basic/2020_Basic_CPS_Public_Use_Record_Layout_plus_IO_Co de_list.txt

Is anyone aware of a source of actual ddf files for the CPS? That is what we should offer.. It would also make it easier for us to update our .dta collection.

Daniel Feenberg
NBER