Work Experience

Employment
Work Experience
Young Women Work Experience Variables
Although the NLS has collected information on labor force behavior since its inception, only partial work histories can be constructed for respondents for certain survey years. The degree of completeness of the work history data varies by survey year.
For those wishing to measure labor force attachment over time, three approaches are available. One can examine (1) the amount of time in weeks that a respondent spent working, unemployed (looking for work), or out of the labor force; (2) the start and stop dates of each job a respondent has held (i.e., a continuous job history); or (3) the start and stop dates associated with each employer for whom a respondent worked (i.e., a continuous employer history).
In general, summary weeks data (i.e., information on the number of weeks working, weeks unemployed, and weeks out of the labor force) were collected during each interview for either the previous 12 months or the previous calendar year. The term "summary weeks data" refers to the respondent's answers (in weeks) to the following types of questions: "During the past 12 months, in how many different weeks did you do any work at all?" Respondents who worked 52 weeks were asked: "Did you lose any full weeks of work during the past 12 months because you were on layoff from a job or lost a job?" Respondents who worked less than 52 weeks were asked: "In any of the remaining weeks, were you looking for work or on layoff from a job?" Those responding "yes" were asked: "How many weeks?" Respondents who did not work during the past 12 months were asked if they had spent any time looking for work or on layoff and if they had, how many weeks. While placement and wording of the individual questions have varied, this core set of summary questions is always present in each interview.
Unfortunately, until the computer-assisted interviews, which started in 1995, data collection consistency did not occur in obtaining information to track all job and/or all employer changes. The gaps in information collected on weeks worked (see discussion below) are minor compared to the gaps in information on jobs held and employment spells. Due to the fact that personal and telephone interviews used different time reference periods, it is only possible to construct a complete job and/or employer record for the later years of the survey.
There are three different ways to construct a summary measure for number of weeks worked, seeking work, or out of the labor force. Users can examine the start and stop dates associated with each job, especially in the personal interview years, when the questionnaire included a detailed work history in a column format. (The titles for these variables can be found on the data file by searching for the words "Most Recent Job.") When the information about start and stop dates is combined, a fairly complete picture of total number of weeks in the labor force can be pieced together. This is the usual procedure that has been used by survey staff to create the *KEY* weeks variables. Users attempting to create number of weeks worked themselves instead of using the created *KEY* variables need to pay close attention to the skip patterns followed in the early survey years. Many check items send respondents to different parts of the questionnaire to respond to questions worded specifically for their particular situations. When constructing number of weeks worked, users should pay particular attention to the dates in the detailed work history section. During the early survey years, the Census Bureau truncated the date the respondent started the job to the preceding interview date if it started before then, so the actual starting date may not be available; in the later years, when an interviewer inadvertently went back before the date of the last interview and gathered information before that date, this information was sometimes left on the data file instead of being blanked out and eliminated.
Two alternatives to this time-consuming procedure of piecing the record together from start and stop dates include (1) use of information from the summary weeks questions present in the questionnaire for all years through 1993 or (2) a combination of data from (a) the *KEY* summary weeks variables for those years in which they were constructed and (b) information from the summary weeks questions for those years in which no *KEY* variable is available. The *KEY* variables (e.g., those variables with titles of '# OF WEEKS WORKED [reference period] *KEY*,' '# OF WEEKS UNEMPLOYED [reference period] *KEY*,' and '# OF WEEKS OLF [reference period] *KEY*') were created for those survey years in which respondents were personally interviewed. Care should be taken to check that the number of cases on the summary weeks variables is reasonably close to the number of respondents interviewed (since all respondents should have a value on these variables). If this is not the case, the user needs to make sure that the desired information is not present in another part of the questionnaire or to adjust for the fact that in some years respondents who had not worked since the last interview are assigned to " missing" instead of being assigned a "zero" for zero weeks of work, as one would expect.
Gaps in the reference periods for the summary week variables occur in the early 1970s when the project phased in an alternating personal and telephone interview pattern. The regularly fielded personal interviews conducted during the early survey years gave way to a 2-2-1 interview pattern (i.e., two telephone interviews occurring two years apart followed by a personal interview at the end of the five-year period). The intent of the telephone interview was to obtain a brief update of information on each respondent and to maintain sufficient contact such that the lengthier personal interview could be completed. Due to the fact that the reference period for the summary weeks questions within a telephone interview was the previous 12 months and that no interview was conducted the year before each telephone survey, gaps in the summary weeks record occurred.
The discussion below reviews the types of summary weeks information that are available from the questionnaire. Included is information on changes in the reference periods for which these data were collected. The weeks worked accounting is not completely accurate due to the slight over- or under-counting of weeks that occurs when a respondent is not interviewed exactly one year from the date of the last interview. If the respondent accurately answered the question on how many weeks in the last 12 months she worked and it had been 13 months since the last interview, the summary weeks variables would miss four weeks of employment status information. Census was asked in the early years to interview each respondent as close as possible to the date of the previous interview; the actual dates of interview can and should be checked.
The 1968 survey collected information from respondents not currently working on the specific year that they last worked. Responses were coded into the following categories: "never worked at all," "never worked two or more weeks," the (specific) month and year if the date was 1963 or later, or a residual category indicating that the last time worked was before 1963. The current or last job is that job held after January 1, 1963. All respondents were asked the summary weeks questions on number of weeks worked, weeks unemployed, and weeks out of the labor force for the previous calendar year (i.e., 1967). If the respondent was not enrolled in school or was working 35 hours or more a week, she was asked about the first job she had held for at least one month after she stopped attending school full-time.
In 1969, those respondents who were currently working or who had held a job since January 15, 1968, were asked about that job; summary weeks questions refer to the last 12-month period. Also, respondents were asked for information on any intervening job (or the longest intervening job, if more than one).
In 1970, the detailed work history column section asked respondents who were currently working or who had held a job since January 1, 1969, about that job (current or last) and about all other jobs. An expanded set of summary weeks questions is present, with a reference period of January 1, 1969.
The 1971 interview repeated the 1970 pattern, with the work history section referring to the date of the previous interview. The 1972 and 1973 surveys repeated the 1971 pattern. Except for respondents who were not interviewed in all years, fairly accurate total number of weeks worked, unemployed, or out of the labor force variables can be created for 1968-73.
The gaps in the summary weeks information began with the 1975 telephone interview. The current or last job questions refer back to the date of the last interview; the summary weeks questions only asked about the last 12 months. The 1977 telephone interview followed the 1975 pattern.
The 1978 personal interview collected data for respondents who had worked since the date of the 1977 interview (or January 3, 1977, if the respondent was not interviewed in 1977). The rest of the survey follows the 1970 pattern. Respondents were also asked for information about the longest job held since January 1973 and for the number of years, out of the past five, that they worked for at least 6 months.
The 1980 telephone interview referred to the date of the 1978 interview (or to January 2, 1978, if the respondent was not interviewed in 1978) for the current or last job and to the previous 12 months for the summary weeks questions. Item 19c obtained information on the number of weeks worked for the 12-month period previous to the last 12 months. Answer categories were "1" through "4" with "1" meaning that the respondent worked most of the year (46-52 weeks), "2" meaning that she had worked more than half a year (26-45 weeks), "3" meaning that she had worked less than half a year (1-25 weeks), and "4" meaning she had not worked at all. By using the midpoint and assigning zero weeks to those respondents who did not work at all, users can approximate the number of weeks worked, although one cannot distinguish between those unemployed and those out of the labor force. The 1982 telephone interview repeats the 1980 telephone pattern using the date of the last interview or January 2, 1980.
The 1983 personal interview collected data for those respondents who had worked since the date of the 1982 interview (or since January 1, 1982, if the respondent was not interviewed in 1982). Respondents were asked for information on their current or last job and on all other jobs held since 1982. The summary weeks questions were asked of all respondents; however, the pattern was slightly different from that used in 1978. If the *KEY* variables are not being used, the user will need to pick up the inputs from different places in the questionnaire in order to create one variable for all respondents.
The 1985 telephone interview referred to the date of the 1983 interview (or to January 2, 1983, if the respondent was not interviewed in 1983) for the current or last job and to the last 12 months for the regular summary weeks questions. The information obtained on weeks worked in the 12 month period prior to the previous 12 months is coded in actual weeks, rather than in a range as in 1980 and 1982. However, it is not possible to distinguish between those respondents who are unemployed and those out of the labor force for the intervening year (i.e., 1983 to 1984). The 1987 telephone interview repeated the 1985 pattern, using the date of the previous interview or January 2, 1985, as the reference point.
The 1988 personal interview collected data for those respondents who had worked since the date of the 1987 interview (or since January 1, 1987, if the respondent was not interviewed in 1987). Respondents were asked for information on their current or last job and all employers (not jobs) for whom they had worked since the 1987 interview. The focus of the work history questions shifted from jobs to employers for whom the respondent had worked three or more consecutive months.
The 1991 interview was conducted in person rather than by telephone, due to the BLS decision to eliminate the 2-2-1 interview pattern and field a personal interview every other year. (The next personal interview was scheduled for 1990, but the survey was delayed a year due to the demands of the 1990 decennial census.) This interview asked respondents about their current or last job and about all employers (not jobs) for whom they had worked since the date of the 1988 interview (or the most recent interview if the respondent was not interviewed in 1988). Due to the fact that this change in the reference date back to the last interview coincided with changes in rules about dropping respondents after two years of noninterview, Census interviewed some respondents whose last interview took place in the mid-1980s. Certain respondents will consequently have work histories that go back past 1988. The summary weeks questions cover the three-year gap in one-year increments. The 1993 interview repeated the 1991 pattern, except that there was only a two-year gap.
The 1995-2003 personal interviews asked respondents about the start and stop dates of their current/last job and any intervening jobs. These start and stop dates were used--in conjunction with their reason for not working--to create summary weeks variables.
Survey Instruments: The work experience data are collected in the "Work History," "Employment," "Work Experience," "On Jobs," or "Employer Supplement" questionnaire sections in various surveys.
Created Work History Variables
The 1999-2003 data releases include a new set of week-by-week employment status variables for the CAPI/CATI interview years. Beginning with the first week of 1994 and continuing through the respondent's most recent interview date, a variable for each week indicates whether the respondent was working (coded "1") or not working (coded "0") that week. A summary variable for each year totals the number of weeks that the respondent worked. These variables can be located on the data file by searching for their question names as follows:
NCV-WORK-xx-01 to NCV-WORK-xx-52 (working/not working each week of year 19xx)
NCV-WORKxx (total weeks working in year 19xx)
Missing data are treated in the following manner: If the job start or end year is provided, an unknown or missing day is set to 15, and an unknown or missing month is set to 1 (January). Missing years are not imputed. If days provided are inconsistent for a given month (e.g., April 31), the day is reset to the closest consistent day (April 30). More information is available in Appendix 41 (PDF) in the Young Women Codebook Supplement.
Due to an instrument problem, there were 343 respondents for whom one or more employers were inadvertently deleted from the employer roster in 2001, resulting in some information missing for these jobs. Information for these jobs was back-collected for all but 24 of these respondents. Researchers looking across years may thus see an under-reported number of employers in 2001. For a list of the 398 respondents for whom some employer information may be missing, see Appendix 42 (PDF) in the Codebook Supplement.
Cohorts
- NLSY97
- Topical Guide to the Data
- Asterisk Tables
- I. Employment, Unemployment, and Job Search (age restrictions as of interview date)
- II. Schooling (age restrictions as of 12/31/96)
- III. Training (age restrictions as of interview date)
- IV. Income, Assets, and Program Participation
- V. Family Formation (age restrictions as of end of previous calendar year--12/31/96 in rd 1, 12/31/97 in rd 2, and so on)
- VI. Family Background (age restrictions as of 12/31/1996)
- VII. Expectations
- VIII. Attitudes, Behaviors, and Time Use
- IX. Health (age restrictions as of 12/31/96)
- X. Political Participation
- XI. Environmental Variables (in main data set)
- Education
- Employment
- Household, Geography & Contextual Variables
- Family Background
- Marital History, Childcare & Fertility
- Income
- Health
- Attitudes
- Crime & Substance Use
- Asterisk Tables
- Intro to the Sample
- Using & Understanding the Data
- Other Documentation
- Codebook Supplement
- Introduction to the NLSY97 Created Variable Appendices
- Appendix 1: Education Variable Creation
- Enrollment Status and Highest Grade/Degree - Appendix 1
- Date Received Diploma or Degree - Appendix 1
- Number of Grades Repeated or Skipped - Appendix 1
- Number of Schools Attended - Appendix 1
- Credits Earned toward Bachelor's/Associate's Degree - Appendix 1
- Date Left High School and Highest High School Grade - Appendix 1
- Private or Parochial School - Appendix 1
- SAT/ACT Scores - Appendix 1
- Training: Receipt of Certificate or Vocational License - Appendix 1
- Appendix 2: Employment Variable Creation
- Appendix 3: Family Background and Formation
- Household Size as of Survey Date - Appendix 3
- Marital Status and Marital/Cohabitation History - Appendix 3
- Fertility and Child Status - Appendix 3
- Number of Residences since Age 12 - Appendix 3
- Current Citizenship Status - Appendix 3
- Mother's Age at First Birth/Respondent's Birth
- Relationship to Household Parent Figures (Round 1 Parent Interview) - Appendix 3
- Relationship to Household Parent Figures (Rounds 7-9 Childhood Retrospective) - Appendix 3
- Relationship to Household Parent Figures (Interview Date) - Appendix 3
- Appendix 4: Geographic Variable Creation
- Appendix 5: Income and Assets Variable Creation
- Appendix 6: Event History Creation and Documentation
- Appendix 7: Continuous Month Scheme and Crosswalk
- Appendix 8: Instrument Rosters
- Appendix 9: Family Process and Adolescent Outcome Measures
- Appendix 10: CAT-ASVAB Scores
- Appendix 11: Collection of the Transcript Data (High School)
- Appendix 12: Post-Secondary Transcript Study
- Attachment 1: Census Industrial & Occupational Classification Codes
- Geocode Codebook Supplement
- Introduction to NLSY97 Geocode Data
- Attachment 100: Census Bureau State and County Codes
- Attachment 101: Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)/Core-Based Statistical Area (CBSA) Codes
- Attachment 102: IPEDS Data and College Identification Codes
- Attachment 103: Migration Distance Variables for Respondent Locations
- Attachment 104: Codebook Pages for Geocode and Zipcode Variables
- Questionnaires
- Errata
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 17 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 16 Release
- Addendum: Additional NLSY97 Speech & Post-Secondary Variables Available
- Addendum: NLSY97 Post-Secondary Data and Transcript Data Files Now Available
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 15 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 14 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 13 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 12 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 11 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 10 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 9 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 8 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 7 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 6 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 5 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 4 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 3 Release
- Tutorials
- Technical Sampling Report
- Codebook Supplement
- Get Data
- Topical Guide to the Data
- NLSY79
- Topical Guide to the Data
- Asterisk Tables
- Education
- Employment
- Employment: An Introduction
- Work Experience
- Jobs & Employers
- Class of Worker
- Discrimination
- Fringe Benefits
- Industries
- Job Characteristics Index
- Job Satisfaction
- Job Search
- Labor Force Status
- Military
- Occupations
- Time & Tenure with Employers
- Wages
- Work History Data
- Employer History Roster
- Business Ownership
- Retirement
- Household, Geography & Contextual Variables
- Family Background
- Marital History, Childcare & Fertility
- Income
- Health
- Attitudes
- Crime & Substance Use
- Intro to the Sample
- Using & Understanding the Data
- Other Documentation
- Codebook Supplement
- NLSY79 Attachment 3: Industrial and Occupational Classification Codes
- NLSY79 Attachment 4: Fields of Study in College
- NLSY79 Attachment 5: Index of Labor Unions and Employee Associations
- NLSY79 Attachment 6: Other Kinds of Training Codes
- NLSY79 Attachment 7: Other Certificate Codes
- NLSY79 Attachment 8: Health Codes
- NLSY79 Attachment 100: Geographic Regions
- NLSY79 Attachment 101: Country Codes
- NLSY79 Attachment 102: Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)
- NLSY79 Attachment 103: Religion Codes
- NLSY79 Attachment 106: Profiles of American Youth (ASVAB Data/AFQT Scores)
- NLSY79 Appendix 1: Employment Status Recode Variables (1979-1998 and 2006)
- NLSY79 Appendix 2: Total Net Family Income Variable Creation (1979-2014)
- NLSY79 Appendix 3: Job Satisfaction Measures
- NLSY79 Appendix 4: Job Characteristics Index 1979-1982
- NLSY79 Appendix 5: Supplemental Fertility and Relationship Variables
- NLSY79 Appendix 6: Urban-Rural and SMSA-Central City Variables
- NLSY79 Appendix 7: Unemployment Rate
- NLSY79 Appendix 8: Highest Grade Completed & Enrollment Status Variable Creation
- NLSY79 Appendix 9: Linking Employers Through Survey Years
- NLSY79 Appendix 11: Round 12 (1990) Survey Administration Methods
- NLSY79 Appendix 12: Most Important Job Learning Activities (1993-94)
- NLSY79 Appendix 13: Intro to CAPI Questionnaires and Codebooks
- NLSY79 Appendix 14: Instrument Rosters
- NLSY79 Appendix 15: Recipiency Event Histories
- NLSY79 Appendix 16: 1994 Recall Experiment
- NLSY79 Appendix 17: Interviewer Characteristics Data
- NLSY79 Appendix 18: Work History Data
- NLSY79 Appendix 19: SF-12 Health Scale Scoring
- NLSY79 Appendix 20: Round 20 (2002) Early Bird and Income Recall Experiments
- NLSY79 Appendix 21: Attitudinal Scales
- NLSY79 Appendix 22: Migration Distance Variables for Respondent Locations
- NLSY79 Appendix 23: Revised Asset and Debt Variables and Computed Net Worth Variables
- NLSY79 Appendix 24: Reanalysis of the 1980 AFQT Data from the NLSY79
- NLSY79 Appendix 25: Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale
- NLSY79 Appendix 26: Non-Response to Financial Questions and Entry Points
- NLSY79 Appendix 27: IRT Item Parameter Estimates, Scores and Standard Errors
- NLSY79 Appendix 28: NLSY79 Employer History Roster
- Geocode Codebook Supplement
- Appendix 7: Unemployment Rates
- Appendix 10: Geocode Documentation
- Attachment 100: Geographic Regions
- Attachment 101: Country Codes
- Attachment 102: State FIPS Codes
- Attachment 104, Part A: 1981 Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs)
- Attachment 104, Part B: 1983 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs)
- Attachment 104, Part C: 1983 Consolidated MSAs and Associated Primary MSAs (CMSAs and PMSAs)
- Attachment 104, Part D: 1983 PMSAs and Associated CMSAs
- Attachment 104, Part E: 1988 MSAs, CMSAs, and Associated PMSAs
- Attachment 104, Part F: 2004 MSAs, CMSAs, and Associated PMSAs
- Attachment 104, Part G: 2006 Core-Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs)
- Attachment 105: Addendum to FICE Codes
- Attachment 106: Codebook Pages for Geocode and Zipcode Variables
- Questionnaires
- Tutorials
- Errata
- Technical Sampling Report
- School & Transcript Surveys Documentation
- Codebook Supplement
- Get Data
- Topical Guide to the Data
- NLSY79 Child/YA
- Topical Guide to the Data
- Intro to the Sample
- Using & Understanding the Data
- Other Documentation
- Codebook Supplement
- Appendix A: HOME-SF Scales (NLSY79 Child)
- Appendix B: Composition of the Temperament Scales (NLSY79 Child)
- Appendix C: Motor & Social Development (NLSY79 Child)
- Appendix D: Behavior Problems Index (NLSY79 Child)
- Appendix D, Part 1: Composition of the BPI subscales
- Appendix D, Part 2a: BPI Anxious/Depressed Subscale
- Appendix D, Part 2b: BPI Antisocial Subscale
- Appendix D, Part 2c: BPI Dependent Subscale
- Appendix D, Part 2d: BPI Headstrong Subscale
- Appendix D, Part 2e: BPI Hyperactive Subscale
- Appendix D, Part 2f: BPI Peer Conflicts/Withdrawn Subscale
- Appendix D, Part 2g: BPI Full Scale
- Appendix D, Part 3a: BPI Internalizing Subscale
- Appendix D, Part 3b: BPI Externalizing Subscale
- Appendix D, Part 3c: BPI Total Scores
- Appendix E: Sample SPSSx Program for Merging NLSY79 Child/YA & Mother Files
- Appendix F: Sample SAS Program for Merging NLSY79 Child/YA & Mother Files
- Appendix G: NLSY79 Child Assessment Scores, Reference Numbers (2010-2014)
- Appendix H: Identification Codes in the Child and Young Adult Database
- Attachment 100: Codebook Pages for Young Adult Geocode Data
- Questionnaires
- Errata
- Errata for 2014 Child/Young Adult Release
- Data Addition: New Work and School Status Variables Created
- Errata for 2012 Child/Young Adult Release
- Errata for 2010 Child/Young Adult Release
- Errata for 2008 Child/Young Adult Release
- Errata for 2006 Child/Young Adult Release
- Errata for 2004 Child/Young Adult Release
- Errata for 2002 Child/Young Adult Release
- Errata for 2000 Child/Young Adult Release
- Errata for NLSY79 Child Interview Dates 1986-1992
- Research/Technical Reports
- Codebook Supplement
- Get Data
- NLS Mature and Young Women
- NLS Older and Young Men