topic Re: INTCK? Incremental count variables for # of weeks/months since hire? in SAS Programming

INTCK? Incremental count variables for # of weeks/months since hire?

SharonZS — Thu, 23 Aug 2018 00:20:42 GMT

Hi all,

I'm trying to create incremental count variables to identify the number of weeks and months since date of hire. I have dates of hire and termination and want to examine experiences during the first few weeks/months of employment.

I've been trying to use INTCK to do this using an example from Ron Cody (he uses a fixed date for first date and dResultdate is my variable for date of termination):

week_num=INTCK('WEEK', '28APR2016'D, dResultDate ) + 1 ;
mos_num=INTCK('MONTH', '28APR2016'D, dResultDate ) + 1;

This gives me the ongoing count that I want for weeks and months since 04/28/16.

Is there a way to turn the fixed constant first date into a random variable for date of hire? I keep getting a straight count constant for total number of weeks/months since hire. I'm using SAS v9.4. I'll appreciate any suggestions anyone may have! Thank you!

Re: INTCK? Incremental count variables for # of weeks/months since hire?

Astounding — Thu, 23 Aug 2018 01:33:19 GMT

It's certainly possible to use a variable as the second parameter to INTCK:

week_num = intck('WEEK', HireDate, dResultDate) + 1;

However, a general note of caution when using INTCK ... it measures boundaries crossed, not number of days. Make sure you understand the results from running these statements:

week_num = INTCK('WEEK', '31Aug2018'd, '02Sep2018'd) + 1;

month_num = INTCK('MONTH', '31Aug2018'd, '02Sep2018'd) + 1;

For that particular interval, the number of months is greater than the number of weeks.

Re: INTCK? Incremental count variables for # of weeks/months since hire?

PGStats — Thu, 23 Aug 2018 02:20:17 GMT

There is a fourth argument to INTCK that shouldn't be left to its default value here. Experiment with:

week_num = INTCK('WEEK', hireDate, dResultDate, "CONTINUOUS");
month_num = INTCK('MONTH', hireDate, dResultDate, "CONTINUOUS");

It returns the number of full weeks (months) that have elapsed since hireDate.

Re: INTCK? Incremental count variables for # of weeks/months since hire?

SharonZS — Thu, 23 Aug 2018 17:04:36 GMT

Thank you both! Both solutions give me the continuous index that I'm looking for --- but first solution is strictly referenced with respect to the calendar (e.g. month 2 begins when next calendar month after month of hire begins rather than 4 weeks after hire date) rather than a straight count index of number of weeks/months worked since date of hire (solution #2). Thank you for your help!