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National Longitudinal Survey of Older and Young Men (NLSM)

Industries

Older Men cohort

This section overviews the raw and created industry variables available for the Older Men cohort. 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 the Older Men Codebook Supplement). Two- and one-digit edited versions of these raw variables are available for most survey years. An extensive discussion of Census/CHRR editing and creation procedures that affect the industry variables can be found in the important information note at the bottom of this page.

Data were collected during each survey year on the industry of a respondent's current or last job. The 1967-69, 1976, and 1981 interviews also gathered information on the industry of the longest intervening job held between yearly survey dates or during the past 12 months. The 1971 questionnaire included a detailed work history section that allowed collection of industry information on up to seven intervening jobs. Retrospectives in 1976, 1981, and 1990 collected industry information for the longest job held between 1971 and 1976, 1976 and 1981, and 1983 and 1990. The 1973-76, and 1981 surveys elicited information from those respondents who were unemployed at both the current and previous interviews on the industry of any job held between survey dates. During certain interview years, questions about the industry of a second or dual job, a hypothetical job or business, or a retirement job were fielded. The 1981 and 1990 surveys included questions on the longest job held by the respondent's wife between 1976 and 1981 or by the respondent's widow between 1983 and 1990. Information was collected during the 1990 interviews from the widows of deceased respondents on the industry of the last job held by the respondent.

Edited variables from the Occupation & Industry (O & I) Rewrite are present for each survey year that provide one-, two-, or three-digit versions of the raw current/last job variables. The 1960 Census codes were used exclusively up through the 1981 interview to code industry information; beginning in 1983, the current/last job variables were doublecoded with the 1960 and 1980 classification systems. Several versions of the current/last job variables, e.g., edited and unedited, collapsed and noncollapsed, are also available. See the important information note below for additional information.

Table OM1. Industry of Current/Last Job by Type of Interview and Sample Persons' Labor Force Status: 1990 Older Men
Industrial Sector Total Sample Person Interview Widow/Proxy Interview
Working Not Working
Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries 448 64 132 230
Mining 49 2 22 22
Construction 448 18 176 232
Manufacturing 1073 26 430 579
Transportation, Communication, Public Utilities 372 13 147 197
Wholesale/Retail Trade 552 42 214 275
Finance, Insurance, Real Estate 208 30 80 92
Business & Repair Services 175 19 68 78
Personal Services 118 15 36 64
Entertainment & Recreation Services 52 7 18 27
Professional & Related Services 382 40 141 180
Public Administration 255 14 116 109
Subtotal 4132 290 1580 2085
Missing 166 1 38 121
Total 42981 291 1618 22062
1 This number reflects the total number of interviews conducted during 1990. Excluded from this table is industry information on 722 respondents for whom neither a respondent nor widow/proxy interview was conducted in 1990. Frequencies in the "Total" column do not equal the sum of the respondent and widow/proxy interview numbers due to the exclusion of 183 interviewed sample persons who do not have valid values on 'Employment Status Recode,' the variable used to determine labor force status.
2 For the 2206 respondents whose widow or proxy was interviewed during 1990, the industry code reflects the one provided by the respondent during a previous interview. Information collected during 1990 from a widow/proxy on the industry of the respondent's last job is available for only a small number of respondents; values are not included in this table.
Table OM2. Industrial Sector of Employed Respondents' Current Job by Number of Survey Years with an Industry: NLS of Older Men 1966-83
Industrial Sector Total Ever Employed Years with Industry
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries 675 82 73 60 62 42 41 31 36 29 28 38 153
Mining 91 23 11 7 4 7 2 6 7 5 3 2 14
Construction 839 169 124 68 71 42 51 48 34 26 41 55 110
Manufacturing 1780 232 141 133 124 117 125 99 102 77 95 130 405
Trans., Comm., Public Utilities 668 106 80 54 43 46 40 37 33 34 22 52 121
Wholesale & Retail Trade 1117 233 154 96 93 69 70 69 47 52 49 50 135
Finance, Insurance, Real Estate 307 65 32 30 17 24 20 23 13 12 13 12 46
Business & Repair Services 374 119 60 46 35 20 21 15 9 9 7 15 18
Personal Services 236 64 42 21 11 20 18 13 7 10 6 4 20
Entertainment & Recreation Services 94 36 15 8 6 7 6 4 4 0 2 3 3
Professional & Related Services 605 108 62 44 54 43 34 34 27 23 28 34 114
Public Administration 535 92 56 41 46 25 40 39 24 33 28 25 86
Universe: Respondents who were working or with a job but not at work for whom information on the industry of current employer was available. Industries were coded with the 1960 Census classification system.
Survey Instruments & Documentation Questions on industry are found in the regularly fielded "Current Labor Force Status," "Work Experience," Work History," and/or "Retrospective Work History" and the special 1966 "Attitudes Towards Work" and 1971 "Plans for the Future" sections of the Older Men questionnaires. Additional industry information was collected using the "Widow's Work Experience" and "Information on Deceased Sample Persons" sections of the 1990 widow's questionnaire. Part One and Appendix H of Attachment 2: 1960 & 1980 Census of Population Industrial & Occupational Codes provide listings by industry of the relevant one-, two-, and three-digit codes. Appendix 31 presents a partial derivation for the 1990 collapsed industry variables. Derivations for the collapsed variables from previous years can be found in the documentation for the class of worker variables. Attachments and appendixes are found in the Codebook Supplement.

Young Men cohort

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 the Young Men 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 important information note at the bottom of this page.

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 important information note 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
Industrial Sector Survey Year
66 67 68 69 70 71 73 75 76 78 80 81
All Respondents 4574 4415 4167 3893 3878 3935 3968 3949 3643 3493 3402 3296
Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries 571 481 340 243 213 214 178 163 154 146 153 158
Mining 22 22 29 33 40 35 46 73 55 56 64 64
Construction 380 363 405 401 400 422 478 446 412 359 367 347
Manufacturing 1140 1092 1132 1185 1167 1129 1218 1168 1052 1005 959 898
Transportation, Communications, & Public Utilities 190 209 249 246 258 280 304 327 292 287 311 300
Wholesale & Retail Trade 1130 1080 993 854 757 790 671 627 590 562 469 482
Finance, Insurance, Real Estate 79 85 87 89 121 139 152 158 152 150 148 148
Business & Repair Services 178 143 137 133 142 130 156 148 159 137 177 175
Personal Services 240 200 117 77 81 74 66 56 47 39 44 40
Entertainment & Recreation Services 131 124 91 60 55 47 47 42 39 37 28 35
Professional & Related Services 382 463 437 421 487 490 445 481 456 460 442 425
Public Administration 131 153 150 151 157 185 207 260 240 255 240 224
Universe: Respondents both working and not working during the survey week for whom an industry code from the 1960 Census classification system for their current or last job was available.
Table YM2. Industrial Sector of Civilian Employed Respondents' Current Job by Number of Survey Years with an Industry: Young Men 1966-81
Industrial Sector Total Ever Employed Years with Industry
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries 913 341 199 118 57 35 34 23 23 21 13 19 30
Mining 182 80 28 19 15 11 8 7 6 2 3 0 3
Construction 1558 653 296 159 100 87 66 41 51 29 37 15 24
Manufacturing 3077 796 511 342 270 225 199 155 147 117 110 88 117
Transportation, Communications, & Public Utilities 1062 443 195 125 58 59 54 31 23 25 17 17 15
Wholesale & Retail Trade 2729 906 577 366 244 177 123 83 64 63 54 36 36
Finance, Insurance, Real Estate 499 216 91 44 26 31 30 22 13 10 9 3 4
Business & Repair Services 860 489 156 82 51 33 16 13 7 3 3 3 4
Personal Services 552 342 128 38 11 3 10 3 9 2 1 3 2
Entertainment & Recreation Services 384 230 87 29 13 11 5 3 1 4 0 1 0
Professional & Related Services 1472 485 263 177 124 96 67 54 63 45 35 31 32
Public Administration 710 274 122 69 55 50 53 21 16 15 9 10 16
Universe: Respondents whose activity most of the survey week was working or with a job but not at work who reported information on their employer from which an industry code from the 1960 Census classification was assigned. Excluded are industry codes for jobs reported in the separate series of questions about jobs held during high school and the first job held after high school.

Important information: Occupation and industry variables

Substantive differences exist between a number of similarly titled occupation, industry, and class of worker variables present in the data files. One set of raw variables relating to the respondent's current job is derived from responses to questions found within the "CPS" section of each questionnaire. Additional versions of this set of variables are created using the two different procedures described below.

  1. An Occupation & Industry (O & I) Rewrite creates a set of seven "backfilled" or summary variables that enable researchers to identify the last occupation, industry, or class of worker status of all respondents who were interviewed in a given year whether or not they were currently working. Values utilized are those from the job in which the respondent was employed the week before the interview or "backfilled" values from the job that was current at the last time the respondent reported employment. Although the industry associated with an intervening job might technically be a respondent's most recent industry affiliation, the O & I program is not designed to pick up information from such jobs. All O & I variables are classified utilizing the 1960 Census codes. Titles for this set of O & I Rewrite variables appear below.

    Occupation & Industry variables from the O & I rewrite
    Variable Title Version Question #
    Class of Worker at Current or Last Job Collapsed [Always Blank--Created Variables]
    Occupation of Current or Last Job 3-digit
    Occupation of Current or Last Job Duncan Index
    Occupation of Current or Last Job 1-digit
    Industry of Current or Last Job 3-digit
    Industry of Current or Last Job 2-digit
    Industry of Current or Last Job 1-digit

    O & I Rewrite variables can be differentiated from non-backfilled variables by (1) the absence of a question number in the documentation that identifies the source of the variable; or (2) an assignment of a reference number that places an O & I variable among the created variables series appearing at the end of a given survey year's variables. In order to assist researchers identify these variables, an attempt has been made to append the word "collapsed" to the end of the O & I variable titles of select cohorts. This convention has been applied as follows: (1) all O & I 'Class of Worker' variables in all four cohorts for all survey years have the word "collapsed" appended to the variable titles and (2) the O & I occupation and industry variables from the 1990 Older Men surveys are identified with the word "collapsed." O & I Rewrite variables for the Young Men can only be identified using the question/reference number assignment conventions discussed above. Users unfamiliar with NLS assignment conventions should refer to chapter 3 of this guide.

    It is not clear why the O & I Rewrite variable titles are identical to those of the occupation/industry/class of worker variables. It may have been that these O & I rewrite variables were originally private variables intended only for use by in-house CHRR researchers and subsequently released to the public.

  2. An editing procedure begun by Census in the 1980s cleans items from the "CPS" section of the questionnaire in order to create the 'Employment Status Recode' variables. The ESR variables were originally generated by Census with no cleaning or editing of the items from the "Current Labor Force Status - CPS" sections of the questionnaire. In the mid-1980s, reoccuring problems with the program that created ESR forced Census to create edited "CPS" items. Both unedited and edited versions of these items are sent to CHRR and released to the public. Edited variables are identifed with either the word "EDITED" or the abbreviations "EDT" or "E" appended to the variable title. Edited versions of these variables will have fewer cases than the unedited versions. When looking at patterns over time, users may wish to use the set of unedited versions.

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.

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.