4.28 Labor Force Status

The following section describes the various labor force status variables present in the NLSY79.  It does not provide either a comprehensive discussion of all questions asked in the “Current Labor Force Status” sections of the various NLSY79 instruments or a thorough treatment of the detailed information available on labor market transitions and work histories.  Users should consult the table of contents and index of this guide for references to additional labor market-related topics of interest, such as work experience, job characteristics, job satisfaction, industries, occupations, wages, and so forth.  Each questionnaire’s “Current Labor Force Status” section collects information on the labor market activity in which respondents were engaged during most of the full calendar week (Sunday-Saturday) preceding the date of interview.  There was no CPS section in 2000–2004.

This series replicates the questions asked in the monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) of American households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the U.S. Department of Labor.  The primary purpose of the CPS is to collect up-to-date information about the number of persons in the country who are employed, unemployed, or not looking for work during a given survey week.  Results from the CPS surveys, released in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly publication Employment and Earnings, provide detailed information classified by age, sex, race, and a variety of other characteristics, on the employment and unemployment experiences of the U.S. population.  A series of variables provides information on respondents’ labor force status during the survey week and during each week since 1978.  These point-in-time indicators are complemented by a set of summary measures, which provide a count of the total number of weeks a respondent occupied a given labor force status (such as working, unemployed, out of the labor force, in the active Armed Forces).  Data are also available on the work experience of respondents’ parents, spouses, and other household members.

Survey Week Labor Force Status:  The following three sets of variables on each respondent’s labor force status during the week preceding the survey week are available for each survey year as indicated for the universes specified below:

1.   Activity Most of Survey Week (1979–93):  The ‘Activity Most of Survey Week’ variables reflect each civilian respondent’s reply to the survey question “What were you doing most of last week?”  “Last week” refers to the full calendar week (Sunday through Saturday) preceding the date of interview.  The following seven categories of responses have been coded from each year’s survey:  (a) working, (b) with a job-not at work, (c) looking for work, (d) keeping house, (e) going to school, (f) unable to work, and (g) other.  Definitions for each of these activities are intended to be consistent with those used in the CPS survey.  Tables 4.28.1 and 4.28.2 provide definitions of key CPS labor force concepts as well as the set of instructions provided during one survey year to NORC interviewers for coding respondents’ labor market status.  The main survey week activity question was followed by a second question, which sought to identify those respondents who did some work in addition to a main activity other than working (such as “looking for work” or “going to school”); this follow-up question was asked of all respondents except those who indicated that they were working or were unable to work.  It is to these two groups, those whose primary activity during the survey week was working and those who responded that they indeed did some work even though it was not their primary labor force activity, that the series of questions on hours worked was administered.

Table 4.28.1 Definitions of Key CPS Labor Force Concepts

2.   Work for Pay or Profit Last Week (1994–98 and 2006):  Beginning in 1994, the CPS section underwent significant changes as outlined later in this chapter.  The ‘Activity Most of Survey Week’ question was replaced with “Last week, did you do any work for pay or profit?”  Respondents can answer yes, no, retired, disabled, or unable to work.  For those answering no, follow-up questions determine whether the respondent has a job from which he or she is temporarily absent, such as on vacation, sick leave, labor dispute, military duty, and so forth.  Follow-up questions also probe for more information about disabilities or other reasons a respondent is unable to work.  Note that the previously used follow-up question no longer exists that sought to identify those who did some work in addition to a main activity other than working.

3.   Employment Status Recode (1979–98 and 2006):  Created variables called ‘Employment Status Recode’ (ESR) are available for each survey year through 1998 and again in 2006.  These variables recode the survey week activity of civilian NLSY79 respondents into labor force status measures consistent with those developed for the CPS.  This recalculation not only factors in the respondent’s reported survey week activity but also takes into account variables such as hours worked, whether working for pay, whether looking for work, what the respondent is doing to find work, whether and why he or she was absent from a job, and so forth.  Added to the seven labor market status categories listed in (1) above is an eighth category, “in the active forces.”  Tables 4.28.5 and 4.28.6 at the end of this section present frequencies for the ESR variables by survey year, race, and sex.  The algorithm changed in 1994 in an attempt to match the new CPS algorithm as closely as possible.

4.   Employment Status Recode-Collapsed:   A collapsed version of ESR is available that classifies all NLSY79 respondents into one of the following four labor market activity categories: (1) employed (“working” or “with a job not at work”); (2)  unemployed; (3)  out of the labor force (“keeping house,” “going to school,” “unable to work,” or “other”); and (4) in the  active forces.

Survey Instruments:  The questions “What were you doing most of last week?” and “Last week, did you do any work for pay or profit?” are located in the “Current Labor Force Status” or CPS section of each year’s questionnaire:  Section 8 (1979); Section 7 (1980); Section 6 (1981, 1993); and Section 5 (1982–92, 1994–98, and 2006).  Age restrictions relevant to the 1979 administration are discussed in the User Notes of the "Age" topical section of this guide.

Documentation:  Each year’s interviewers’ reference manual, or Question by Question Specifications (Q by Q), provides detailed instructions for interviewers on how to code the “Current Labor Force Status” sections of NLSY79 questionnaires.  A special CPS specifications section of the Q by Q provides detailed definitions for each activity.  Creation procedures for the ‘Employment Status Recode’ variables can be found within "Appendix 1 - ESR Variable Creation" in the NLSY79 Codebook Supplement.

Data Files:  The ‘Activity Most of Survey Week’ and ‘Work for Pay or Profit Last Week’ variables are located on the main NLSY79 data set within the “CPS” area of interest; both versions of ESR are located in the “Key Variables” file.

Although the “Current Labor Force Status,” or CPS, sections of the NLSY79 questionnaires follow the wording and format of questions in the Current Population Survey, users should be aware that NLS “CPS” sections include questions over and above those asked in the Current Population Survey.  Additionally, while instructions provided to interviewers of NLSY79 respondents are designed to be completely consistent with those of the CPS, NORC interviewers may be less familiar with CPS   methodology and procedures than CPS-trained Census interviewers.

CPS Changes in 1994:  Beginning in 1994, the “Current Labor Force Status” (CPS) section was changed to ensure that the NLSY79 matched changes that occurred in the Current Population Survey.  This survey underwent a major revision in January 1994, thus causing a revision of the corresponding NLSY79 section.

The Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics revised the national CPS for four major reasons: 

(1) Because the last major CPS revision occurred in 1967, research suggested that the wording of many CPS questions was dated and response lists no longer reflected typical answers.  For example, the old set of CPS responses did not have childcare problems on the list of reasons why a respondent was absent from work in the last week.

(2) In 1979, the National Commission on Employment and Unemployment Statistics, or Levitan Commission, had suggested a number of changes to U.S. labor force classifications.  The new CPS implements many of the recommendations, such as tightening the definition of discouraged workers.

(3) Research in survey methodology suggested better ways of asking questions.  For example, inserted before occupation and industry questions is a new question that checks if the respondent has changed jobs or employers since the last survey.  This extra question dramatically reduces the number of spurious job changes recorded.

(4) Advances in computer technology made it desirable to switch from a paper-and-pencil instrument (PAPI) to a computer-administered instrument (CAPI).  Switching to CAPI eliminates a variety of data transcription problems, automates the survey’s skip patterns, and allows answer checks during the interview instead of during a post-processing phase.

NLSY79 users will see a number of changes when they compare the 1994 NLSY79 CPS section with earlier years.  First, there are many more data items.  The 1993 data set contains data for 87 CPS items, while the 1994 version contains 228 data items.  Not all of these new questions contain useful data since a number are internal machine checks. 

Moreover, even though there are more data items, some respondents actually answer fewer questions in the new survey.  For example, the 1994 NLSY79 contains information on 50 disabled individuals.  These individuals answer only a small number of the section’s questions.  However, for many respondents the CPS section now contains more in-depth answers.  Additional categories of answers are added to many questions, such as how respondents search for work and the number of jobs a multiple-job respondent holds.

Finally, NLSY79 researchers should know that the new CPS section increases the likelihood that a respondent is classified as unemployed.  For example, data from the BLS parallel survey suggest that the new survey’s introduction increased national  unemployment rates by 0.5 percent.  Moreover, this increase primarily occurs among women, not men.

Weekly Labor Force/Military Status:  The detailed information on employment dates and gaps between jobs collected during the regular youth surveys has permitted the construction of weekly labor force status variables for each NLSY79 respondent for the period January 1, 1978, through the most current survey date.  In the event that a respondent is not interviewed for one or more surveys, he or she is asked to provide retrospective information at the first reinterview point in order to maintain a continuous set of variables in the Work History data.  These variables enable researchers to determine whether, during any week since January 1, 1978, a respondent was (a) working, (b) associated with an employer, (c) unemployed, (d) out of the labor force, (e) not working, or (f) on active military duty (for some survey years).  Because these weekly labor force variables are constructed from actual start and stop dates and information on employment gaps within and between jobs, the coding categories and meanings differ from the survey week variables described above.  These coding categories are defined in Tables 4.28.3 and 4.28.4.  Users should note that the number of weeks in each array is greater than the actual number of weeks filled in to provide a “cushion” when creating the Work History data.  The extra weeks found in these arrays contain no valid data; the Work History documentation provides further details.

Data Files and Documentation:  The weekly constructed labor force status variables are found only on the Work History Data Set.  The Work History documentation provides background information on the development of this information as well as descriptions and codes for each set of variables.

Table 4.28.3 Definitions of NLSY79 Weekly Labor Force Activity Categories

Summary Labor Force Status Indicators:  A series of summary variables, listed in Table 4.28.4, are created based upon the week-by-week labor force status arrays produced by the NLSY79 Work History program.  These summary variables are present on the NLSY79 main data files and provide a count of the number of weeks that a respondent held a given labor force status, that is, working, unemployed, out of labor force, or in the active Armed Forces.  Each summary variable is available for the period since the last interview and in the past calendar year.  Variables which indicate the percentage (if any) of weeks not accounted for due to missing data or indeterminate status in the Work History arrays are also calculated.

Table 4.28.4 Created Summary Variables, 1979 to Most Recent Years

The first set of variables uses “Past Calendar Year,” that is, the full calendar year previous to the year of current interview, for its summations.  The second set, which uses “Last Interview Date” as the starting point, allows researchers to piece together a cumulative set of figures for each respondent (up to the most current point of interview) depicting total number of weeks with a given labor force status.  The variables containing the percentage of weeks unaccounted for serve to alert users to the completeness of a respondent’s record over time.  Because respondents can skip interview years, users should be careful in employing these variables to compose cumulative histories.  These variables provide cumulative labor force status for the same period of time for each respondent interviewed in a given year.  Comparative analyses can be conducted for a comparable time period across all respondents interviewed in a given year.

Related Variables:  Another created variable in this set is total number of weeks since the respondent’s last interview.

Data Files:  The cumulative variables discussed above are located in the “Key Variables” area of interest on the combined NLSY79 main and the work history area of interest.  One set of variables exists for each survey year.

Labor Force Status Tables:  Tables 4.28.5 and 4.28.6 depict the labor force status, as measured by ‘Employment Status Recode’ variables, across survey years for the NLSY79 sample as a whole and for respondents by race and sex.  Readers should note that these tables contain unweighted frequencies.  The tables should only be used as an aid in describing raw frequency counts in these data and must not be used to make inferences about population data.

Readers should also note that the 1994 CPS revisions potentially modified results in these tables.  BLS estimates, derived from running the new CPS simultaneously with the old, suggest that the new CPS slightly increases unemployment rates.  Therefore, readers are cautioned that a small number of people classified as unemployed in 1994 and beyond might have been labeled “out of the labor force” according to the old CPS section.

Comparison to Other NLS Cohorts:  Data are available on the work activity of those NLSY79 children who were age ten and over at the interview date as well as on each mother’s survey week activity and work history during quarterly periods preceding and following the child’s birth. 

Current labor force status is determined for all respondents in the NLSY97 and the four Original Cohorts for each survey year.  However, the current labor force status questions were changed for the women’s cohorts in 1995 to reflect the redesign of the CPS.  Users should use caution when comparing labor force status from surveys before these years to the NLSY79.  For more information, consult the BLS website at www.bls.gov/nls or the appropriate cohort’s User’s Guide.

Table 4.28.5 Labor Force Status of NLSY79 Civilian & Military Respondents 1979- 98 and 2006³ (Unweighted Data)

Table 4.28.6 Labor Force Status of NLSY79 Civilian & Military Respondents by Sex and Race/Ethnicity 1979-1998¹