Newest Errata
MAJOR FIELD OF STUDY variables for 2004 [posted 01/17/2017]
Data for the major fields of study at colleges reported by respondents in the 2004 interview were inadvertently omitted. These variables will be included in the next data release. The affected variables are:
- R78133.02 Q3-23_CODE.01 MAJOR FIELD OF STUDY COLLEGE 1 ATTENDED
- R78133.03 Q3-23_CODE.02 MAJOR FIELD OF STUDY COLLEGE 2 ATTENDED
- R78133.04 Q3-23_CODE.03 MAJOR FIELD OF STUDY COLLEGE 3 ATTENDED
- R78133.05 Q3-23_CODE.04 MAJOR FIELD OF STUDY COLLEGE 4 ATTENDED
- R78133.06 Q3-23_CODE.05 MAJOR FIELD OF STUDY COLLEGE 5 ATTENDED
Previously posted Errata
EMPLOYER_STARTDATE variables for 1993 [posted 4/4/2016]
Due to a question naming issue, variables beginning with EMPLOYER_STARTDATE in 1993 are not present in the current release. Data for 1993 employer startdates can be found in variables with question names QES-8.##~M/D/Y (see list below). Variables with correct question names will be added in the next public data release.
- R41878.00 QES-8.01~M DATE BEGAN WORKING (OR LAST INT IF BEFORE THEN):MO JOB #01
- R41878.01 QES-8.01~D DATE BEGAN WORKING (OR LAST INT IF BEFORE THEN):DY JOB #01
- R41878.02 QES-8.01~Y DATE BEGAN WORKING (OR LAST INT IF BEFORE THEN):YR JOB #01
- R42007.00 QES-8.02~M DATE BEGAN WORKING (OR LAST INT IF BEFORE THEN):MO JOB #02
- R42007.01 QES-8.02~D DATE BEGAN WORKING (OR LAST INT IF BEFORE THEN):DY JOB #02
- R42007.02 QES-8.02~Y DATE BEGAN WORKING (OR LAST INT IF BEFORE THEN):YR JOB #02
- R42083.00 QES-8.03~M DATE BEGAN WORKING (OR LAST INT IF BEFORE THEN):MO JOB #03
- R42083.01 QES-8.03~D DATE BEGAN WORKING (OR LAST INT IF BEFORE THEN):DY JOB #03
- R42083.02 QES-8.03~Y DATE BEGAN WORKING (OR LAST INT IF BEFORE THEN):YR JOB #03
- R42153.00 QES-8.04~M DATE BEGAN WORKING (OR LAST INT IF BEFORE THEN):MO JOB #04
- R42153.01 QES-8.04~D DATE BEGAN WORKING (OR LAST INT IF BEFORE THEN):DY JOB #04
- R42153.02 QES-8.04~Y DATE BEGAN WORKING (OR LAST INT IF BEFORE THEN):YR JOB #04
- R42229.00 QES-8.05~M DATE BEGAN WORKING (OR LAST INT IF BEFORE THEN):MO JOB #05
- R42229.01 QES-8.05~D DATE BEGAN WORKING (OR LAST INT IF BEFORE THEN):DY JOB #05
- R42229.02 QES-8.05~Y DATE BEGAN WORKING (OR LAST INT IF BEFORE THEN):YR JOB #05
Missing Data for CES-D Score for Health Module 50 and Over [posted 3/9/2016]
It has come to our attention that the CES-D score for H50+ Module (H50-CES-D_SCORE_7_ITEM) was missing for 4,131 respondents who were interviewed in 2010 and 2012. The missing data will be available in the next public data release.
Past Calendar Year Variables Corrected [posted 3/7/2016]
Corrections were required for some past calendar year variables due to errors found in the Work History programs.
- The first error was a missing equal sign in the code creating number of jobs in past calendar year. As a result, the number of jobs in past calendar year is understated by 1 or 2 for about 100 cases each survey round from 1996-2012.
- The second error was that some military cases were inadvertently assigned a -3 for weeks unemployed, weeks out of labor force and weeks unaccounted for variables in past calendar year. This -3 code has been corrected for approximately 50-70 cases each survey round from 1996-2002 and 10-30 cases each survey round from 2004-2012.
The affected variables for these errors are WKSWK-PCY, WKSUEMP-PCY, WKSUNACCT-PCY, WKSOLF-PCY, MILWK-PCY and HRSWK-PCY and CAL_YEAR_JOB#. The data for these variables have been corrected in the current public release.
Yearly "Why Respondents Left Job" Variables in the Employer Roster Revised [posted 1/14/2016]
It has come to our attention that the yearly variables in the Employer Roster that indicate why a respondent left a job (EMPLOYERS_ALL_WHYLEFT_[year].[job]) for respondents who were self-employed from 2002 to 2012 were incorrectly coded. Due to changes in the questionnaire, beginning in 2002 self-employed respondents were asked a separate question with self-employed answer categories only; these changes were not incorporated into the Employer Roster variables. These variables will be corrected in the next public release.
Most Recent "Why Respondents Left Job" Variable in the Employer Roster Recoded [posted 1/14/2016]
Corrections are required for the Employer Roster variables that summarize the most recent reason why a respondent left a job (EMPLOYERS_ALL_WHYLEFT_MOST_RECENT.[job]). Although the response for why a respondent left a job has changed across the 25 survey years, the answer categories for these variables in the employer roster were miscoded to incorrectly reflect the respondent’s actual answers. The EMPLOYERS_ALL_WHYLEFT_MOST_RECENT.JOB variable is recoded, and the response list for this variable incorporates all possible responses from all survey years.
A collapsed most recent "why respondents left job" variable is constructed. The response list for this variable collapses all categories in the most recent "why left job" variable into six broad categories. The corrected data for the most recent why left job and the newly created data for the collapsed most recent why left job will be available in the next public release.
New Series of Poverty Status Variables Corrects Inconsistencies [posted 12/8/2015]
A new series of poverty status variables has been constructed to correct inconsistencies that occurred when creating the poverty status from 1979 through 1994. There were three types of inconsistency:
- From 1979 to 1986, for the respondents whose total net family income contained a component that was a "don’t know" or "refuse" answer, an abbreviated version of income was calculated using selected income variables and this figure was then used to determine if the family was not in poverty.
- From 1980-1986, projected, rather than actual, Poverty Income Guidelines were used to create family poverty status. In addition, from 1979-1983, a distinction was originally made between farm and non-farm families.
- From 1987-1994, the actual Poverty Income Guidelines for the survey year instead of the past calendar year which respondents were asked to report income on were used to determine if a respondent was in poverty or not.
The new POVSTATUS variables were created using the total net family income and the Poverty Income Guidelines from the past calendar year. Researchers should refer to Appendix 2 for a more complete description of how these variables were created. The newly created poverty status variables from 1979 through 1994 will be included on a future release.
Household Roster Data Revised [posted 11/10/2015]
CHRR personnel have discovered corrections that were required for 80 cases to data collected as part of the Household Rosters from 1993-2012. Corrections for most of the affected cases were required only in a subset of the survey years between 1993-2012.
The changes involved cases for which either:
- "0" was listed as a relationship code sometime between 1993-2012 ("0" is not a valid relationship code after 1992, as the respondent him/herself was no longer included in the household roster), or;
- An extremely young spouse age was reported.
These corrections will be included the next time the data is posted.
Employer Start and Stop Dates Revised [posted 10/14/2015]
Corrections are required for employer start and stop dates from past survey years for 78 cases. The affected dates were generally associated with continuous jobs, for which either the start date improperly preceded the date of last interview or the stop date improperly exceeded the current interview date. The most likely source for the majority of these errors is keypunch error as the data was being entered. These revisions do not affect created variables for which these items are used, as the variable creation programs made appropriate adjustments when encountering out-of-range or otherwise problematic dates.
These variables will be corrected the next time the data are posted.
Erroneous Codebook Note for Employer History Roster Variables [posted 9/16/2015]
The following note was erroneously left on codebook pages for the Employer History Roster variables:
- NOTE: EMPLOYER HISTORY ROSTER DATA IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR THE 1979-2010 SURVEY YEARS. UPDATES WITH 2012 EMPLOYER HISTORY DATA WILL BE AVAILABLE IN EARLY 2015.
The Employer History Roster data was updated with 2012 data in February of 2015. That note is now incorrect and will be eliminated in the next data posting. Items containing the note are XRND variables that have reference numbers beginning with “E†and question names beginning with “EMPLOYERS_ALLâ€. They can be found in Areas of Interest starting with “EMPLOYER HISTORY.†This is a documentation error. No data is affected.
Missing Last Interview Date for 2012 [posted 8/31/2015]
The date of last interview variables for 2012 survey round respondents were inadvertently omitted from the current release. This omission will be corrected in the next release.
Age at Birth and Child Spacing XRND Variables [posted 7/1/2015]
The cross-round (XRND) variables relating to age at birth and child spacing were inadvertently restricted to respondents interviewed in the 2012 survey round. The variables affected are listed below.
R99081.00 AGE OF R AT 1ST BIRTH
R99082.00 AGE OF R AT 2ND BIRTH
R99083.00 AGE OF R AT 3RD BIRTH
R99084.00 MOS BETWEEN 1ST AND 2ND BIRTHS
R99085.00 MOS BETWEEN 2ND AND 3RD BIRTHS
Revised Income Variables Incorrectly Coded (posted 5/12/2015)
It has come to our attention that valid '0' values in some revised income variables were inadvertently recoded to '-3' values (invalid missing). The variables affected (spanning 1982 to 2000 survey years) are listed below. The error will be fixed in subsequent data postings.
R07821.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC)(REVISED)
R07824.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC)(REVISED)
R07843.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC)(REVISED)
R07846.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC)(REVISED)
R10240.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC)(REVISED)
R10243.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC)(REVISED)
R10262.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC)(REVISED)
R10265.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC)(REVISED)
R14107.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC)(REVISED)
R14110.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC)(REVISED)
R14129.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC)(REVISED)
R14132.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC)(REVISED)
R17785.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC)(REVISED)
R17788.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R17807.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC)(REVISED)
R17810.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC)(REVISED)
R21416.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R21419.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R21438.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC)(REVISED)
R21441.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R23503.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R23506.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R23525.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R23528.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R27225.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R27228.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (REVISED) (TRUNC)
R27247.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R27250.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R29714.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R29717.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R29736.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R29739.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R32794.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R32797.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R32816.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R32819.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R32922.01 TOTAL INCOME OF PARTNER FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R32925.01 TOTAL INCOME OF PARTNER FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R35590.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R35593.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R35612.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R35615.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R35718.01 TOTAL INCOME OF PARTNER FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R35721.01 TOTAL INCOME OF PARTNER FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R38971.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R38974.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R38993.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R38996.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R39099.01 TOTAL INCOME OF PARTNER FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R39102.01 TOTAL INCOME OF PARTNER FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R42951.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R42955.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R43144.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR(TRUNC) (REVISED)
R43149.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR(TRUNC) (REVISED)
R43908.01 TOTAL INCOME OF PARTNER FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R43913.01 TOTAL INCOME OF PARTNER FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R49828.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R49832.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R49960.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R49966.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R56262.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R56266.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R56508.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R56514.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R63646.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R63650.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R63749.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R63753.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R69097.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R69111.01 TOTAL INCOME FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R69178.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM WAGES AND SALARY IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
R69192.01 TOTAL INCOME OF SPOUSE FROM FARM OR BUSINESS IN PAST CALENDAR YEAR (TRUNC) (REVISED)
Dropped Case - Round 19 (errata posted 2/3/2015)
All data for case 9269 in Round 19 (year 2000) have been determined to be invalid as interviewers discovered that the wrong person had been interviewed in that round. This respondent's last valid interview was Round 16 (1994). As a result, researchers should avoid using data for this respondent past those reported during the 1994 interview date, including created yearly variables that combine information for all of 1994. These data will be eliminated and sampling weight variables for round 19 will be recomputed with the next release of the data.
Missing Data for Business Ownership Matching Questions (January 2015).
[Update: These missing variables, which included information from respondents who clarified businesses reported in a prior round, are now available on the most recent (February 3, 2015) data release].
Data for the business ownership matching questions were found to be missing for NLSY79 respondents who reported businesses for the first time in the 2012 survey. The affected variables are listed below.
For survey year 2012 (round 25):
T34497.00 BUSOWN-YEAR-MATCH.01
T34498.00 BUSOWN-YEAR-MATCH.02
T34499.00 BUSOWN-YEAR-MATCH.03
T34500.00 BUSOWN-YEAR-MATCH.04
T34501.00 BUSOWN-EMPNUM-MATCH.01
T34502.00 BUSOWN-EMPNUM-MATCH.02
T34503.00 BUSOWN-EMPNUM-MATCH.03
T34504.00 BUSOWN-EMPNUM-MATCH.04
T41601.00 BUSOWN-MATCH-QUALITY.01
T41602.00 BUSOWN-MATCH-QUALITY.02
T41603.00 BUSOWN-MATCH-QUALITY.03
T41604.00 BUSOWN-MATCH-QUALITY.04
Incorrect Data for H40-CHRC-5 and H40-CHRC-7 (December 2014)
[Update: These data have now been corrected and are available on the most recent (February 3, 2015) data release].
It has come to our attention that a coding error occurred when combing data from different survey rounds in the Health Module 40 & Over programs. This caused the information in questions H40-CHRC-5 and H40-CHRC-7 to be incorrect for 7,840 respondents. Only respondents answering questions in this section prior to 2006 were affected. Corrected data are available in the next public data release.
Edits for 5 cases that went through the Health Module 40 & Over twice (December 2014)
[Update: These data have now been corrected and are available on the most recent (February 3, 2015) data release].
Five respondents mistakenly went through the Health Module 40 & Over in two different surveys. This caused data in this section from both interviews to be combined. Data from the second Health Module 40 & Over interview should be recoded as the following.
Variables H00070.00, H00070.01, H00071.00 for case ID 1847 should be recoded to -4.
Variables H00025.00, H00026.00, H00073.00, H00074.00, H00074.01 for case ID 3607 should be recoded to -4.
Variables H00017.00, H00018.00 for case ID 4784 should be recoded to -4.
Variables H00047.00, H00047.01, H00048.00 for case ID 5823 should be recoded to -4.
Variable H00113.00 for case ID 8002 should be recoded to -4.
These corrections will be available in the next public data release.
Error in Health Module 50 & Over XRND Variables, Now Corrected (November 2014)
[Update: These data have now been corrected and are available on the most recent (February 3, 2015) data release].
During the first week following the NLSY79 1979-2012 dataset release, we discovered an error in the Health Module 50 & Over crossround (XRND) variables. We have now re-released the dataset with the error corrected. If users downloaded any of the Health Module 50 & Over crossround data between 10/31/2014 and 11/10/2014, we encourage them to download the corrected dataset to use. Health Module 50 & Over variables for specific survey years (2008, 2010, and 2012) were not affected by this issue.
Uncorrectable Data Errors
Legal Form of Business Not Collected for 31 Cases in 2012 (posted 1/23/2015)
Due to an error in the questionnaire, the legal form of a business (SES-BUSOWN-12.#) for 31 NLSY79 respondents was not collected in 2012. This error affects the respondents who reported a business in 2012 that matches a job reported during the last interview and who were last interviewed in 2008 and prior. The legal form of a business for these 31 cases should be coded as -3. Please contact NLS User Services with questions about the 31 respondent IDs that were effected.
Since in 2012 we did not re-ask the legal form of a business that matched a job reported in the last interview, users wishing to determine the legal form of that business should use the employer number from the previous survey year variable in 2012 (EMPLOYER_EMPPREVID.#). For example, if EMPLOYER_EMPPREVID.# is 1, which means that the business is the same as job #1 in 2010, then legal form of that business in 2012 is the value of SES-BUSOWN-12.01 or BUSOWN-12.01 in 2010. If the business in 2012 is job #2 in 2010, then the legal form of that business is the value of SES-BUSOWN-12.02 or BUSOWN-12.02 in 2010.
Missing Occupation, Industry and Class of Worker in 1994 data items
The occupation, industry and class of worker information for 353 CPS employers were not collected during the 1994 interview. These CPS employers were either less than 9 weeks in duration since the last interview, or were employers for whom the respondent worked less than 10 hours per week. They were erroneously treated as other non-CPS employers with those characteristics, for which occupation, industry and class of worker information is not collected. For those employers that were also reported in the previous survey year, and for which the respondent confirmed that his/her occupation did not change since the previous survey year, the occupation, industry and class of worker codes from the previous survey year should also apply. Users may also data subsequent survey years in a similar manner to attempt to fill in more of this information.
This error is present on all current NLSY79 data releases.
Missing information on Union Affiliation/Collective Bargaining in 1994 data items
Due to an error in the questionnaire, information on union affiliation and collective bargaining on a number of employers was not collected. Respondents reporting a non-self-employed job should have answered these questions. This error affects employer #1 (generally the CPS employer) for 3,210 respondents of the 7141 respondents who should have been asked, employer #2 for 531 of the 2215 respondents who should have been asked, employer #3 for 128 of the 606 who should have been asked, employer #4 for 34 of 168 who should have been asked and employer #5 for 6 of 48 who should have been asked. This is 45% missing for employer #1, 24% missing for employer #2, 21% missing for employer #3, 20% missing for employer #4 and 13% missing for employer #5.
Conversely, information on union affiliation and collective bargaining was collected on a number of self-employed respondents, for whom these questions should not have been asked. This error affects employer #1 for 166 cases, employer #2 for 45 cases, and employers #3, #4 and #5 for 1 case each. This information for self-employed respondents (those with a code of "4" for class of worker) should be disregarded.
This error is present on all current NLSY79 data releases.
2 missing cases in 1994 data items
Due to probable machine glitches, the data from two (2) apparently completed interviews was rendered inaccessible. 1994 variables for cases #5078 and #10524 are missing. Any 1994 data items remaining for these cases is meaningless and should be discarded for purposes of analysis. The 1996 interview period for these cases spanned from the 1993 to the 1996 interview. Information that would have been collected at the 1994 interview is thus now included in the data for the 1996 survey year.
This data error is present on all current NLSY79 data releases.
NORC 1978 Memo
The 1978 NORC memo regarding race and ethnicity coding can be found here: NORC 1978 memo