79 Guide Poverty Status

Two sets of family poverty variables, family poverty status and family poverty level, are available for NLSY79 respondents. In addition, detailed information is provided on public assistance income sources, and a series of environmental variables describe the extent of family and individual poverty within the respondent’s geographical area of residence. Family income information collected during the 1978 screening was used to designate the economically disadvantaged oversample of NLSY79 respondents.

Economically Disadvantaged Sample Assignment: TThe economically disadvantaged non-black/non-Hispanic oversample includes those youth located during the screening who were selected for and completed a base year interview (1) whose family income during the past 12 months (reported by the householder) was equal to or below the 1978 poverty guidelines established for that family size and (2) whose race was coded by interviewer observation as not black or Hispanic, i.e., “non-black/non-Hispanic” or “other” and whose origin or descent (reported by the householder) was neither one of the Hispanic codes nor black, Negro, or Afro-American. A family was designated as in poverty if its income over the past 12 months was equal to or less than $3140 + ($1020 * (N-1)) for a non-farm family or equal to or less than $2690 + ($ 860 * (N-1)) for a farm family, where N is the number of persons in the family unit.

Family Poverty Status (1978-2004): Variables have been created for each survey year that indicate whether or not a respondent’s total family income for the past calendar year was above or below the poverty level. Information used to create the 1979–2004 poverty variables is derived from either (1) the total family income information provided during the household interview by the parent when the respondent was living in the parental home or (2) the sum of component income sources reported by the respondent (when not living in the parental home) during administration of the “Income” section of each questionnaire. Income sources for the respondent and all persons related to them by blood, marriage, or adoption are included in the calculation. Availability of data for individual respondents has been affected by nonresponse to the income questions. Poverty status data are not available for those respondents who, during post-1986 survey years, had one or more income components missing. Nor are they available for those respondents who, during the 1980–86 interviews, were “refusals” or “don’t knows” to both the household interview dollar amount question and a follow-up question requiring a “yes-no” response to a question on level of family income. The method used to create the 1978 family poverty status variable was unique. "Appendix 2 - Total Net Family Income" in the Codebook Supplement provides a narrative description; R02179.30 identifies which of three income sources was used to determine each respondent's status.

Two sets of poverty level indicators have been used across survey years. The yearly poverty income guidelines (issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and based on Census Bureau poverty guidelines) were used to determine poverty status for the 1978, 1979, and 1987–2004 survey years. Projected poverty income levels computed by CHRR were used for the 1980–86 poverty status variables. More complete information on the calculation procedures developed by CHRR to create ‘Total Net Family Income’ and ‘Family Poverty Status’ and to project poverty guidelines for the 1980–86 survey years can be found in "Appendix 2 - Total Net Family Income" in the NLSY79 Codebook Supplement. Copies of the official poverty guidelines and the projected 1980-86 cutoff values are included in the appendix.

Family Poverty Level (1979, 1987-2004): The poverty level variables provide the amount of total family income, controlling for family size and state of residence, below which a respondent (and his or her family) would be considered to be in poverty for that year. They are available for those survey years during which CHRR relied on official poverty guidelines for the creation of the ‘Family Poverty Status’ variables.

Public Assistance Support Sources (1979-2004): The “Income” and “Health” sections of each year’s questionnaire collect information on amounts and time periods during which cash and noncash benefits were received from such sources as public assistance, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), Food Stamps, government rent subsidies, public housing, or welfare-provided health/hospitalization coverage. The universes and types of data collected vary across survey years as indicated in Table 4.33.1.

Poverty Characteristics of Respondent's County (1979-2004)/SMSA of Residence (1979-82): Based on data from the 1977 and 1983 County & City Data Books, variables such as percent of families with money income below the poverty level, number of persons below the poverty level, and families with female heads of household below the poverty level are available for each respondent’s area of residence on the Geocode CD. The geographical area (county or SMSA) for which these data are available varies across survey years.

Value of Food Stamps: The created variable ‘Total Net Family Income,’ used to determine a respondent’s poverty status, includes in its calculation the noncash value of Food Stamps. In 1987, a ‘Total Net Family Income in Past Calendar Year (Census)’ variable was created by CHRR that excluded food stamp income for the 1986 calendar year only. Census poverty calculations for the U.S. do not include the value of food stamps. Hence, NLSY79 income calculations are similar, but not exactly the same as, other national data sets.

Survey Years	Universe	Source of Assistance	Data Collected
1979-2004	R/spouse/partner¹	Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)/TANF after 1996	Whether R spouse/partner received income from, the average monthly income amount, and which specific months since the last interview such income was received
1979-84	Opposite-sex adult	Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)	Whether opposite-sex adult received such income in past calendar year
1990-93	Partner	Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)	Whether opposite-sex adult received such income in past calendar year
1979-84	R/spouse	Other (specified and unspecified) Public Assistance	Whether R/spouse received income from, the average monthly income amount, and which specific months since the last interview such income was received
1979-84	Opposite-sex adult	Supplemental Security Income, Other Public Assistance, or Welfare	Whether opposite-sex adult received such income in past calendar year
1990-93	Partner	Supplemental Security Income, Other Public Assistance or Welfare	Whether opposite-sex adult received such income in past calendar year
1980-84	R/spouse	Supplemental Security Income	Whether R/spouse received income from, the average monthly income amount, and which specific months since the last interview such assistance was received
1985-98	R/spouse	Supplemental Security Income, Other Public Assistance, or Welfare	Whether R/spouse received income from, the average monthly income amount, and which specific months since the last interview such assistance was received
1979-2004	R/spouse	Food Stamps	Whether R/spouse received income from, amount received most recently, and which specific months since the last interview such assistance was received
1979-2004	Other family member	AFDC or Public Assistance	Whether other family member received income from either source in past calendar year
1979-84	R/other family members	Public Housing	Whether R and other family members lived in such housing in past calendar year
1979-85	R/other family members	Government Rent Subsidy	Whether R and other family members received such a subsidy in past calendar year
1986-2004	R/other family members	Public Housing/Government Rent	Whether R and other family members lived in public housing or received a rent subsidy in past calendar year
1989, 1990 & 1992-2002	R/spouse/or children	Medicaid/Welfare Health/Hospitalization Coverage	Whether Medicaid/welfare was source of health/hospitalization coverage
1998	R/spouse/partner	Targeted Benefits/Assistance	Whether R/spouse/partner received income from, the average monthly amount, and which specific months since the last interview such assistance was received
2000	R/spouse/partner	Targeted Benefits	Whether R spouse/partner received Welfare or social service agency support to cover part of wages

¹Universe includes partner from 1993 survey on.

Welfare Reform Questions in 1998. In 1998, an additional set of questions was included to solicit information on the effects of welfare reform on certain behaviors of respondents related to seeking assistance. Respondents reporting AFDC or SSI/Other Public Assistance were asked whether they had sought work, enrolled in training/school, or performed community service in response to changing requirements. Respondents not reporting these types of assistance, but reporting a combined R and spouse/partner income of 125 percent of the poverty level or less, were asked whether they had applied for assistance, why they had not received any, and if and how the welfare reform changes affected them. (The determination of poverty level for the purpose of conducting the survey was based on the number of household members. This may be a relatively crude measure of family size, but should result in more conservative estimates, which should tend to include rather than exclude more respondents from this set of questions.) These items are part of the “Income” area of interest.

Created Recipiency Variables. Beginning with the 1996 data release, recipiency event histories are included on the NLSY79 data set. A set of both monthly and annual recipiency histories were created to minimize the confusion caused by the large number of CAPI and PAPI questions that respondents have answered about money received from Unemployment Insurance, AFDC, Food Stamps, SSI, and other public assistance/welfare programs. For each year between 1978 and the current survey year, the types of variables included for R/spouse unemployment benefits, AFDC/TANF, Food Stamps, and SSI/Other Public Assistance are:

These variables are updated with each round and may be found in areas of interest "Recipient Month" and "Recipient Year." Existing variables may be updated with retrospective information collected in later survey rounds for those who skipped previous interviews. Creation of these recipiency variables is described in Appendix 15 of the NLSY79 Codebook Supplement.

Table 4.33.2 summarizes respondents’ poverty status in 1979 and 1988 by gender and a number of other residence and household characteristics.

Table 4.33.2 Poverty Status by Type of Residence: 1979 & 1988 (Unweighted Data)

		In Parental Home				Own Dwelling Unit
		Not in Poverty		In Poverty		Not in Poverty		In Poverty
		1979	1988	1979	1988	1979	1988	1979	1988

Males
Race	Hispanic or Latino	484	82	220	27	87	456	12	77
	Black	685	142	484	65	62	584	10	96
	Non-Black/Non-Hispanic	1988	210	333	35	357	1914	56	143

Highest Grade Completed	NA	4	2	1	2	0	23	0	0
	Under 12 Years	2354	65	927	45	143	422	26	136
	12 Years or more	799	367	109	80	363	2509	52	180

# Own Children in Household	0	3131	403	1024	114	390	1635	68	155
	1	23	21	12	7	85	607	8	45
	2	3	8	1	3	28	507	1	51
	3	0	2	0	3	3	169	1	41
	4	0	0	0	0	0	29	0	16
	5	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	5
	6 or more	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3

Current Residence¹	Rural	670	87	249	30	104	565	22	81
Current Residence¹	Urban	2486	340	788	93	396	2224	56	221

Employment Status	Employed/In Active Forces	1615	374	319	75	402	2815	41	217
Employment Status	Unemployed/Out of Labor Force	1542	60	718	52	104	139	37	99

Females
Race	Hispanic or Latino	477	58	210	20	116	455	47	142
	Black	617	99	467	68	102	554	66	310
	Non-Black/Non-Hispanic	1743	156	334	26	641	2137	149	300

Highest Grade Completed	NA	1	4	3	2	1	27	1	11
	Under 12 Years	2043	22	822	36	219	293	139	300
	12 Years or more	793	287	186	76	639	2826	122	441

# Own Children in Household	0	2720	224	876	40	551	1236	122	109
	1	95	53	109	38	233	794	75	146
	2	20	29	22	21	68	785	43	249
	3	2	4	3	12	6	268	17	169
	4	0	3	0	2	1	44	5	49
	5	0	0	1	1	0	17	0	17
	6 or more	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	13

Current Residence¹	Rural	588	55	276	25	187	671	62	194
Current Residence¹	Urban	2248	255	735	88	671	2376	200	547

Employment Status	Employed/In Active Forces	1271	266	226	42	522	2450	74	245
Employment Status	Unemployed/Out of Labor Force	1566	47	785	72	337	696	188	507

Note: Universe includes respondents who had valid values on 'Family Poverty Status' and 'Type of Residence,' were living in their parental home or own dwelling unit, and who were interviewed in both 1979 and 1988.
¹Some respondents are missing sufficient data to determine rural-urban residence.

Survey Instruments & Documentation: Public assistance support source questions are located in the “Income & Assets” section of each survey: Section 21 (1979), Section 17 (1980), Section 12 (1981, 1987, 1989, 1990, and 1992), Section 14 (1982 and 1985), Section 13 (1983, 1986, 1994-2004), Section 15 (1984), and Section 11 (1988, 1991, and 1993). The 1979–86 household series were collected with the Household Interview Forms. "Appendix 2 - Total Net Family Income" describes the creation of the ‘Family Poverty Status’ variables (for creation of recipiency event history see "Appendix 15: Recipiency Event Histories”). Copies of the projected poverty income levels developed by CHRR for those years in which the official poverty income guidelines were not used are provided in the NLSY79 Codebook Supplement.

Data Files: The ‘Family Poverty Status’ and ‘Family Poverty Level’ variables are found in the “Key Variables” area of interest. The public assistance support sources variables are in “Income.” The county/SMSA of residence poverty characteristic variables are located in the “Geocode xxxx” areas of interest on the Geocode CD. Select variables on total welfare income for other family members and months that the respondent/spouse/partner received income from SSI can be found in the “Misc. xxxx” areas of interest.

Comparison to Other NLS Cohorts: Data have been collected during each interview from NLSY79 young adults on whether they had received AFDC, Food Stamps, public housing, or other sources of public assistance. Poverty status has been calculated for each year of the NLSY97 survey. Older Men’s poverty status variables were created for the 1966, 1967, and 1969 surveys and a ratio of the respondent’s family income in the previous year to the poverty level was created for the 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1973, and 1975 surveys. Mature Women’s poverty status variables were created for the 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, and 1977 surveys. Young Women’s poverty status variables were created for the 1968-1973, 1975, 1977, 1978, and 1980 surveys.

Information on public assistance has been regularly collected for each Cohort as part of the "Income" section. Consult the BLS website at http://www.bls.gov/nls or the appropriate cohort’s User’s Guide for details.

4.33 Poverty Status & Public Assistance Support Sources