Industries

Young Men

This section overviews the raw and created industry variables available for the Young Men cohorts. Open-ended questions, e.g., "What kind of business or industry is/was this?", were included within various sections of the questionnaires during each interview. Verbatim responses to this question were coded by Census personnel using three-digit codes from the 1960, and for select variables, the 1980 classification systems (Census 1960, 1980). (See Attachment 2 in Codebook Supplement). Two- and one-digit edited versions of these raw variables are available for each cohort for most survey years. An extensive discussion of Census/CHRR editing and creation procedures that affect the industry variables can be found in the User Notes at the end of this section.

Information with which to code the industry of the respondent's current job or current or last job was collected during each survey year. In addition, all surveys except the 1966, 1978, and 1980 gathered information on either the industry of intervening jobs, the longest intervening job, or the last job held. Five year retrospectives fielded in 1976 and 1981 collected data on the industry of the longest job held during the 1971-76 and 1976-81 periods. Industrial specification of a second or dual job was gathered in 1971, 1976, and 1981. Related questions fielded during individual survey years included: (1) in 1966, the industry of the job held a year ago, of the job held during the last full year of high school, of the first job held for one month or more after the respondent stopped attending school full-time, and of a (hypothetical) job or own business that the respondent would start should he lose his current job; and (2) in 1971 and 1976, the industry of an alternative job that those respondents who reported job-shopping while remaining employed with the same firm indicated that they could have had and/or had been offered. Edited variables from the Occupation & Industry (O & I) Rewrite are present for each survey year that provide one-, two-, and three-digit versions of many of these raw variables. The 1960 Census classification system is used exclusively to code industry information for this cohort. See the User Notes section for additional information. Finally, a variable entitled 'Industrial Diversification Score for Labor Market of Current Residence' was constructed for the 1966-70 survey years that provides an index of the degree to which the industrial composition of the respondent's local area resembles that of the national economy.

Table YM1. Industrial Sector of Civilian Respondents' Current/Last Job by Survey Year: Young Men 1966-81

Table YM2. Industrial Sector of Civilian Employed Respondents' Current Job by Number of Survey Years with an Industry: Young Men 1966-81

Survey Instruments & Documentation: The regularly fielded "Current Labor Force Status," "Work Experience & Attitudes," and "Retrospective Work History," and the special 1966 "Attitudes toward Work" sections of the Young Men questionnaires contain questions on industry. Part One and appendix H of Attachment 2: 1960 & 1980 Census of Population Industrial & Occupational Codes (in the Codebook Supplement) provide one-, two-, and three-digit codes.

References

Blackburn, McKinley L. and Neumark, David. "Unobserved Ability, Efficiency Wages, and Interindustry Wage Differentials." Quarterly Journal of Economics 107,4 (November 1992): 1421-36.

D'Amico, Ronald. "Career Paths and Career Origins: The Effect of First Job Industry on the Attainments of Mature Men." Columbus, OH: CHRR, The Ohio State University, 1981.

D'Amico, Ronald. "A Quantitative Procedure for the Assignment of Industries to Capital Sector Types." Columbus, OH: CHRR, The Ohio State University, 1981.

D'Amico, Ronald and Daymont, Thomas. "Industrial Organization, Economic Conditions, and the Labor Market Success of Young Men." In: Market Defenses: Early Work Decisions of Today's Middle-Aged Men, S.M. Hills, ed. Columbus, OH: CHRR, The Ohio State University, 1983.

Jacobs, Jerry A. "Industrial Sector and Career Mobility Reconsidered." American Sociological Review 48,3 (June 1983): 415-21.

Shapiro, David and Hills, Stephen M. "Adjusting to Recession: Labor Market Dynamics in the Construction, Automobile, and Steel Industries." In: The Changing Labor Market: A Longitudinal Study of Young Men, S.M. Hills, ed. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1986.

U.S. Census Bureau. 1960 Census of Population Alphabetical Index of Occupations and Industries (Revised Edition). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1960.

U.S. Census Bureau. 1980 Census of Population Classified Index of Industries and Occupations. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1980.