About the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS)
The NLS, sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, are nationally representative surveys that follow the same sample of individuals from specific birth cohorts over time. The surveys collect data on labor market activity, schooling, fertility, program participation, health, and much, much more. Choose a cohort below to learn more.
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Men and women born in the years 1980-84
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Men and women born in the years 1957-64
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Biological children of women in the NLSY79
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Mature women born in the years 1922-37 and young women born in the years 1943-53.
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Older men born in the years 1906-21 and young men born in the years 1941-52.
Who Are You?
Please indicate your NLS experience so we can direct you to a page that focuses on your needs:
Need Help Using NLS Data?
Explore the Tutorials
Learn how to approach research projects, search for and extract data, and then program with NLS data.
Introduction to the Investigator
Learn how to use the online NLS data search and extraction site to create your own data sets.
NLS Learning Opportunities: Booth Schedule at Conferences
Going to a professional conference this year? The NLS User Services booth will be making its appearance at several conferences in 2016. Stop by to get some hands-on instruction (or just to say hi).
Latest Information from the NLS
See the July 2016 Monthly Labor Review (published by BLS) for its NLSY79-based article: "An Analysis of Long-term Unemployment." This article uses the NLSY79 to examine long-term unemployment of men in the United States during their early careers and midcareers.
Strong showing for NLS research: The American Sociological Association's 2016 Annual Meeting, held August 20-23, included more than 30 NLS-related presentations, plus an NLS workshop. We've compiled a handy list for you.
NLS Brochures and Data Briefs available as PDFs. Need some quick info about the NLS to hand out in your classroom or give to a colleague? Click here for access to PDFs of our brochures and data briefs. The NLS brochures cover a variety of topics for all cohorts, while the data briefs are more specific to the NLSY79 Child & Young Adult datasets.
Newest Data Release [6/15/2016]: Preliminary 2014 NLSY79 Young Adult Data. A preliminary version of the 2014 NLSY79 Young Adult data is now available to the public through NLS Investigator (www.nlsinfo.org/investigator). The young adults surveyed in this round (age range 14 to 42) are the older children of female respondents in the NLSY79. The release includes all data collected for the YA in the 2014 data collection round, plus a limited number of created variables. These data can be merged in with the NLSY79 Child/YA 1979-2012 data release. Users should be aware that the reference numbers in this preliminary release are not final and may be different in the final merged NLSY79 Child/YA 1979-2014 data release. Question names, however, will not change.
Check out our Website Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the NLS. Fun facts, user profiles, NLS language lessons, and more!! Check us out at https://nlsat50.org/.
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Visit NLS Investigator to explore and download data.