Latest Information from the NLS

A short NLSY97 COVID survey was fielded in the first half of 2021 to document the possible effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the employment and health of the NLSY97 cohort. This data set is now available using the NLS Investigator. More information can be found in Appendix 14: NLSY97 COVID-19 Supplement.

This release includes data from 1986 through 2018. The Child/YA cohort follows the biological children of the women in the NLSY79. To access public data, use the NLS Investigator.

We have released an NLSY79/NLSY97 beta dataset designed to harmonize NLS data across two cohorts, allowing users added opportunities to perform cross-cohort comparisons. Initially the dataset includes interview date, reason for noninterview, age, marital status, highest grade attended, highest grade completed, and employment status, with possible expansion to over 100 variables. Fixed background variables are also included, such as sex, race, and AFQT score. See Appendix 13: Cross-Cohort NLSY79/97 Overview for more information.

This release includes data from 1979 through 2018 (Rounds 1-28). To access public data, use the NLS Investigator.

We have re-released the NLSY97 public-use Rounds 1-18 data with some updates. A comprehensive review of the created wage variables CV_HRLY_COMPENSATION and CV_HRLY_PAY led to updates to a number of these created variables and select underlying raw data through all rounds. See the Errata for NLSY97 Round 18 Release for details. The re-release also includes a small number of corrections to the created incarceration variables and to invalid dates for freelance job start dates; these are also detailed on the errata page. The dataset can be accessed at NLS Investigator.

This release includes data from 1997 through 2017 (Rounds 1-18). To access public data, use the NLS Investigator.

A new separate dataset of variable timings has been released for the NLSY97. The timings, which measure the time of the respondent's interaction on a particular question during the interview, are mainly for questions related to sexual activity, pregnancy, smoking, drug use, delinquent behaviors, criminal activity, and expectations. To access the dataset, visit the NLS Investigator page and choose "NLSY97" in the cohort selection list, then choose "Select Timings." More details can be found on the Item Nonresponse & Interview Timings documentation.

The Child/YA cohort follows the biological children of the women in the NLSY79. This release includes data from 1986 through 2016. To access public data, use the NLS Investigator.

The NLSY79 follows the lives of a sample of Americans born between 1957-1964. The new release contains 27 rounds of data and is available to the public through the NLS Investigator.

Vist the video tutorials page to help you access and use our NLS datasets. Topics include:

• Introduction to the NLS Investigator
• Getting Started: Investigator Interface
• Variable Search
• How to Import NLS Data into Statistical Software