The Employer History roster includes information on virtually all employers reported by NLSY79 respondents, with many of the employer characteristics reported for each employer included in a single record. These variables are classified as "XRND" variables, rather than being assigned to a single survey year. Data from each survey year are currently available. The variables will be updated as necessary as revisions are made and with each progressive round.
Structure
In earlier years, the linking process required to build a record of various commonly used employer-specific characteristics that have been reported in different survey years has involved a rather complex process. Researchers would need to use variables indicating the employer number in the previous survey year and establish the link through each preceding year individually. Appendix 9: Linking Employers Through Survey Years details this process.
By contrast, the Employer History roster is designed to help alleviate that more involved process of employer linking for many of the most commonly used employer characteristics. The Employer History data is constructed in a roster structure, consisting of one record for each of the up to 65 jobs (so up to 65 records). Many employer characteristics have been compiled into each employer's record. The record for each employer will include each of the variables listed in the table below. For instance, the record for employer #1 will contain EMPLOYERS_ALL_CPSJOB_[YEAR].01, EMPLOYERS_ALL_UNION_[YEAR].01, EMPLOYERS_ALL_IND_[YEAR].01, EMPLOYERS_ALL_OCC_[YEAR].01, etc. for each survey year that employer #1 was reported.
Data Notes
Employer information for additional employers (jobs 6-10) in some of the older survey years may not have been included in the roster. These jobs were often included on separate data tapes, the original data of which has been difficult to recover. Should any of these data on additional employers be recovered in the future, that data will be added to the Employer History roster accordingly and users notified of these additions. These employers comprise a very small proportion of those ever reported for a very small number of respondents.
Locating Employer History variables
The Employer History items can be easily located within the NLSY79 dataset on NLS Investigator by using one of the following search criteria:
- Question Name (enter search term) index, "starts with", enter "EMPLOYERS_ALL" search term
- Area of Interest (pick from list) index, "equals", choose areas of interest beginning with "EMPLOYERS_ALL"
- Reference Number (enter search term), "starts with", enter "E"
Table 1 lists the contents of the Employer History roster. The variables are listed under the Areas of Interest currently assigned. The "variable names" column contains the qnames for each of the variables. Currently there are up to 65 jobs for each respondent included on the roster. This means that at least one respondent has reported 65 jobs over the course of the NLSY79's 27 rounds. Most respondents of course will have a much smaller number of jobs reported since 1979.
Table 1: Employer History Roster Contents by Area of Interest
| EMPLOYER HISTORY--JOB CHARACTERISTICS | ||
| Variable names | Description | Notes |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_GOVJOB_[YEAR].[JOB#] | Was this job a government job? | Each job, each survey year through 1987 |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_CPSJOB_[YEAR].[JOB#] | Was this job the CPS (current/most recent) job? | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_UNION_[YEAR].[JOB#] | R covered by union or employee contract on the job? | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_CURWK_[YEAR].[JOB#] | R currently working for employer at date of interview? | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYER HISTORY--JOB EMPLOYER IDs | ||
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_NUM_ARRAY_[YEAR].[JOB#] | Number loaded into Work History Labor Force Status array | Each job, each survey year; from this we hope to eventually create a parallel Labor Force Status array with a single job number for each job all the way through |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_PREVID_[YEAR].[JOB#] | ID number of job in survey year | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_ID_[YEAR].[JOB#] | ID number of job in survey year | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_UID.[JOB#] | A "unique" employer id assigned to employers, consisting of the survey year and an employer number for that survey year | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYER HISTORY--JOB HOURS WORKED | ||
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_HOURSDAY_[YEAR].[JOB#] | Hours per day usually worked at job | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_HOURSWEEK_[YEAR].[JOB#] | Hours per week usually worked at job | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYER HISTORY--JOB INDUSTRY, OCCUPATION AND CLASS OF WORKER | ||
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_IND_[YEAR].[JOB#] | Type of business or industry for employer | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_OCC_[YEAR].[JOB#] | Occupation for employer | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_COW_[YEAR].[JOB#] | Class of worker for employer | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYER HISTORY--JOB ORIGINAL STARTDATES AND MOST RECENT STOPDATES AND REASON LEFT JOB | ||
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_STOPDATE_MOST_RECENT.[JOB#]~[D/M/Y] | Most recent stopdates for employer | Each job |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_STARTDATE_ORIGINAL.[JOB#]~[D/M/Y] | Original startdate for employer | Each job |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_WHYLEFT_MOST_RECENT.[JOB#] | Most recent reason given for leaving employer | Each job |
| EMPLOYER HISTORY -- JOB PAYRATES AND TIME UNITS | ||
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_TIMERATE_[YEAR].[JOB#] | Time unit for rate of pay | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_PAYRATE_[YEAR].[JOB#] | Payrate for employer | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_HRLY_WAGE_[YEAR].[JOB#] | Hourly rate of pay for employer | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYER HISTORY -- JOB START DATES | ||
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_STADATE_[YEAR].[JOB#]~[D/M/Y] | Startdate for employer | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYER HISTORY -- JOB START WEEKS | ||
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_STARTWEEK_[YEAR].[JOB#] | Week number of start date for job | Each job, each survey year, calculated by Work History programs |
| EMPLOYER HISTORY -- JOB STOP DATES | ||
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_STOPDATE_[YEAR].[JOB#]~[D/M/Y] | Stop date for employer | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYER HISTORY -- JOB TENURE AND PRETENURE | ||
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_PRETEN_[YEAR].[JOB#] | Months worked for employer before date of last interview | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_TENURE_[YEAR].[JOB#] | Total weeks tenure with employer | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_PAST_[YEAR].[JOB#] | R work for employer before date of last interview? | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYERS HISTORY -- JOB WHY LEFT | ||
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_WHYLEFT_[YEAR].[JOB#] | Reason left job | Each job, each survey year |
| EMPLOYER HISTORY -- WITHIN JOB GAPS REASON NOT WORKING | ||
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_WHYNOWK_[YEAR].[JOB#].[GAP#] | Reason not working for within job gap | Each job, each gap, each survey year |
| EMPLOYER HISTORY -- WITHIN JOB GAPS START DATES | ||
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_PERSTAR_[YEAR].[JOB#].[GAP#] | Week number of start dates for within job gap | Each job, each gap, each survey year, calculated by Work History programs |
| EMPLOYER HISTORY -- WITHIN JOB GAPS STOP DATES | ||
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_PERSTOP_[YEAR].[JOB#].[GAP#] | Week number of stop dates for within job gap | Each job, each gap, each survey year, calculated by Work History programs |
| EMPLOYER HISTORY -- WITHIN JOB GAPS WEEKS LOOKING | ||
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_LOOK_[YEAR].[JOB#].[GAP#] | Any weeks looking for work during within job gap | Each job, each gap, each survey year |
| EMPLOYER HISTORY -- WITHIN JOB GAPS WEEKS NOT WORKING | ||
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_NOTLOOK_[YEAR].[JOB#].[GAP#] | Number of weeks not looking for work during within job gap | Each job, each gap, each survey year |
| EMPLOYERS_ALL_WKSNOTWK_[YEAR].[JOB#] | Any weeks not working for employer | Each job, each survey year |