I have three variables structured as below:
pre_covid change post_covid
employed Same .
Housewif Same .
Business diff out of LF
employed diff unemployed
employed Same .
Housewif Same .
However, rather than missing (.) for those whose status has not changed since the recession started, I want to create a variable as follows post-recession_status
pre_covid change post_covid post_recession_status
employed Same . employed
Housewif Same . Housewif
Business diff out of LF out of LF
employed diff unemployed unemployed
employed Same . employed
Housewif Same . Housewif
The dataex for the pre and post covid categories are as follows:
1 "employed", modify
2 "Unemployed", modify
3 "out of LF", modify
4 "Housewife", modify
5 "student", modify
The dataex for the change variable is:
Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input float change
2
2
1
1
end
label values change change
label def change 1 "Different", modify
label def change 2 "Same", modify
Despite edits, your data example is incomplete and inconsistent in several minor details: diff or different, Housewif or Housewife, Unemployed or unemployed, Business not a defined value label.
Still, this shows a similar dataset as an example (which came out of editing, some extra code and then dataex) and then some token code.
* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input long(pre_covid post_covid change)
1 . 2
4 . 2
6 3 1
1 2 1
1 . 2
4 . 2
end
label values pre_covid whatever
label values post_covid whatever
label def whatever 1 "employed", modify
label def whatever 4 "housewife", modify
label def whatever 6 "business", modify
label def whatever 2 "unemployed", modify
label def whatever 3 "out of LF", modify
label values change change
label def change 1 "different", modify
label def change 2 "same", modify
gen wanted = cond(change == 2, pre_covid, post_covid)
label val wanted whatever
list, sep(0)
+-------------------------------------------------+
| pre_covid post_covid change wanted |
|-------------------------------------------------|
1. | employed . same employed |
2. | housewife . same housewife |
3. | business out of LF different out of LF |
4. | employed unemployed different unemployed |
5. | employed . same employed |
6. | housewife . same housewife |
+-------------------------------------------------+