The question asking respondents whether they were in a registered domestic partnership or civil union, EREGDOMPART, was removed in the 2020 SIPP. EREGDOMPART was used to set the universe for jointly held assets and unsecured liabilities in previous survey years. The impacts on assets content in 2020 SIPP data are below.

The affected asset and debt types include:

Assets: government securities, checking accounts, savings accounts, money market deposit accounts or money market funds, certificates of deposit, municipal or corporate bonds, mutual funds, stocks, rental properties, and other real estate
Unsecured liabilities: credit card debt, student loans or educational-related expenses, and other debt.

In years prior to the 2020 SIPP, responses to the joint amount questions were divided by two and copied to both spouses’ or partners’ records if they met the following conditions:

Reported being married, in a civil union, or in a registered domestic partnership
Reported owning assets jointly with their spouse or partner
Reported the value of, or income from, those accounts
The joint amount questions only needed to be asked of one spouse or partner

In the 2020 SIPP, the process is unchanged if respondents report being married. However, since respondents can no longer report whether they were in a registered domestic partnership or civil union, each partner is asked to report their share of the value or income received for each affected asset type. For unsecured liabilities variables, each partner is only asked to report their individually held debt.

Therefore, in the 2020 SIPP, variables for assets or debts held jointly with a spouse are denoted with a prefix of “EJS”. Assets owned jointly with another individual, including civil union partners, are denoted with a prefix of “EJO”. Respondents in a registered domestic partnership or civil union are only in universe for unsecured liabilities variables with an “EO” prefix. Variables that are top-coded have a prefix of “TJS”, “TJO”, or “TO”.

The table below illustrates how the description, universe description, and universe for jointly held assets have changed between the 2019 SIPP and the 2020 SIPP, using checking accounts as an example. Differences are emphasized in bold.

EJSOWNCHK	2019 SIPP	2020 SIPP
Description:	Owned any checking accounts jointly during the reference period [for respondents with a spouse or civil union partner in the household; this joint ownership question is asked of only one spouse or partner, and this response is copied to both spouses'/partners' records].	Owned any checking accounts jointly during the reference period [for respondents with a spouse in the household; this joint ownership question is asked of only one spouse, and this response is copied to both spouses' records].
Universe Description:	Owned any checking accounts during the reference period and had a spouse in the household at the end of the reference period and at the time of interview or had a civil union partner in the household at the end of the reference period.	Owned any checking accounts during the reference period and had a spouse in the household at the end of the reference period and at the time of interview.
Universe	EOWN_CHK = 1 and [(EMS_EHC = 1 for MONTHCODE = 12 and EMS = 1) or EREGDOMPART = 1 for MONTHCODE = 12]	EOWN_CHK = 1 and (EMS_EHC = 1 for MONTHCODE = 12 and EMS = 1)

EJOOWNCHK	2019 SIPP	2020 SIPP
Description:	Owned any checking accounts jointly during the reference period [for respondents without a spouse in the household either at the end of the reference period or at the time of interview or without a civil union partner in the household at the end of the reference period].	Owned any checking accounts jointly during the reference period [for respondents without a spouse in the household either at the end of the reference period or at the time of interview].
Universe Description:	Owned any checking accounts during the reference period and did not have a spouse in the household either at the end of the reference period or at the time of interview and did not have a civil union partner in the household at the end of the reference period.	Owned any checking accounts during the reference period and did not have a spouse in the household either at the end of the reference period or at the time of interview.
Universe	EOWN_CHK = 1 and [(EMS_EHC not equal to 1 for MONTHCODE = 12 or EMS not equal to 1) and EREGDOMPART not equal to 1 for MONTHCODE = 12]	EOWN_CHK = 1 and (EMS_EHC not equal to 1 for MONTHCODE = 12 or EMS not equal to 1)

Depending on the question of interest, if data users are using the affected asset or debt types to create longitudinal estimates, they may want to refine their sample. For example, if data users are interested in jointly held assets and debt among spouses, they can restrict their sample to spouses only, where EMS_EHC = 1 for MONTHCODE = 12 and EMS = 1, and use variables with an “EJS/TJS” prefix.

If data users are interested in assets held by unmarried partners, they can consider using RREL(n) and RREL_PNUM(n) to identify unmarried same-sex or opposite-sex partners. These variables are available in the 2014 SIPP Panel and onward. Values of and income from jointly held assets can be identified using a combination of “EJS/TJS”(2019 SIPP and earlier) and “EJO/TJO” variables (2020 SIPP and earlier). The SIPP cannot be used to study estimates of jointly held debt among unmarried partners since not all partners are in a registered domestic partnership or civil union. However, longitudinal, household-level estimates of unsecured debt can be created using a combination of “EJS/TJS” (2019 SIPP and earlier) and “EO/TO” variables (2020 SIPP and earlier).

Page Last Revised - February 28, 2022

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