Along with over a thousand demographers, sociologists and other professionals, Census Bureau staff will be participating in the Population Association of America (PAA) annual meetings in San Diego. The meetings, taking place from April 30 through May 2, allows researchers from across the country and different disciplines to present testing and research results on many interesting and noteworthy topics.

This year, Census Bureau staffers will present research findings on a spectrum of topics, such as:

• Examining health insurance coverage inequalities and showing potential impact of the Affordable Care Act.
• Evaluating the risk of health insurance loss between 2008 and 2011.
• Improving estimates of same-sex married couples.
• Changing methods for estimating foreign-born emigration.
• Examining how income inequality of men and women persist over time.
• Measuring supplemental poverty and its impact on programs and policies at the state level.
• Examining the effect of housing foreclosure on families.
• Analyzing how age of children affects women’s earnings.
• Assessing the quality of S. vital statistics at the county level using the sex ratio at birth.
• Changing risks of living alone or as a boarder since 1850.

The Population Association of America offers a forum for Census Bureau staffers to present their research for professional discussion. It is a major setting for ensuring that Census Bureau research and testing protocols remain relevant.

Attendees present and hear about advances in demographic population projection and estimation procedures, changing family dynamics and new advances in statistical sampling, estimation and modeling. PAA offers professional development courses, career placement services, and opportunities to meet and collaborate with individuals conducting similar research. For example, there will be a workshop demonstrating how to use the IPUMS-Current Population Survey and the Integrated Health Interview Series. The IPUMS-Current Population Survey currently includes the March Annual Social and Economic Supplement data from 1962 to 2014 and Current Population Survey basic monthly samples from 1989 to 2013. In addition to the basic monthly data, 13 supplements, including food security, veterans, fertility, tobacco use and voter surveys, are available.

On Wednesday, April 29, the Census Bureau, the Population Association of America’s Committee on Population Statistics and the Triangle Census Research Network sponsored a workshop on the Survey of Income and Program Participation. It provided an introduction to the survey’s 2014 redesign and included demonstrations on ways to access and use these data.

The annual conference also features training sessions on data from the decennial census and the American Community Survey. We look forward to sharing ideas with you at this year’s conference. For a listing of Census Bureau presentations, see:

A copy of the final program is available at paa2015.princeton.edu.

Follow the Research Matters blog this week for a closer look at many of the research topics presented at the Population Association of America’s annual meetings.