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Merge Overlapping Values for Employment Periods

Source: R/merge_columns.R
merge_overlapping_values.Rd

Processes merged segment data to handle overlapping employment periods (arco > 1) by combining values from the previous row according to data type-specific rules. This function operates on the output from merge_original_columns() and handles the merging logic for overlapping employment scenarios.

Usage

merge_overlapping_values(segments_with_columns, columns)

Arguments

segments_with_columns

A data.table containing the output from merge_original_columns(), which includes temporal segments with merged columns. Must contain 'cf', 'arco' columns and be ordered by person and time.

columns

Character vector specifying which columns to process for overlapping periods. These columns must exist in segments_with_columns.

Value

A data.table with the same structure as the input, but with overlapping period values merged according to data type rules. All other columns and rows remain unchanged.

Details

When employment periods overlap (arco > 1), this function combines values from the previous row with the current row based on data type:

  • Character/Factor columns: Values are combined with "->" separator showing transitions (e.g., "CompanyA->CompanyB")

  • Numeric columns: Values are summed (e.g., overlapping salaries)

  • Multiple overlaps (arco > 2): Chain all values in sequence for characters, continue summing for numerics

  • Factors: Converted to character before processing

The function processes rows sequentially within each person (cf), looking at the previous row's value when arco > 1 and merging accordingly. For arco = 1 or 0, values remain unchanged.

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
library(data.table)

# Create sample employment data with overlapping periods
original_dt <- data.table(
  id = 1:3,
  cf = c("PERSON001", "PERSON001", "PERSON001"),
  INIZIO = as.Date(c("2023-01-01", "2023-04-01", "2023-06-01")),
  FINE = as.Date(c("2023-06-30", "2023-08-31", "2023-12-31")),
  prior = c(1, 1, 0),
  company = c("CompanyA", "CompanyB", "CompanyC"),
  salary = c(50000, 30000, 25000)
)

# Transform to segments and merge columns
segments <- vecshift(original_dt)
with_columns <- merge_original_columns(original_dt, segments, c("company", "salary"))

# Handle overlapping values
result <- merge_overlapping_values(with_columns, c("company", "salary"))
print(result)
} # }