Labor Force Status

 

Created Variables:

CV_ESR. Provides the respondent's employment status in the week before the survey, using CPS information. Available for rounds 1, 4, and 10.

CV_ESR_COLLAPSED. Using CPS information, collapses employment status into four categories: employed, unemployed, not in the labor force, and in the active Armed Forces. Available for rounds 1, 4, and 10.

 

Important Information About Using Labor Force Status Data:

1. "CPS employer" is a term used in the NLSY79 to identify the respondent's current or most recent employer using methods similar to the Current Population Survey.  (Researchers sometimes limit their analysis to only the CPS employer instead of considering all employers).  Unlike the NLSY79, the NLSY97 does not ask specific questions that refer to the CPS employer; all employers are discussed in the employment section of the questionnaire.  However, there is information that can be used to determine which job or jobs are current for a given respondent.

  • The current status flag (YEMP_CURFLAG.xx) reports whether the respondent is currently employed at each of the jobs listed in his or her employer roster.
  • If the respondent is not currently employed at any job, the most recent job can be identified through examination of the stop dates.
  • If the respondent is currently employed at more than one job, the usual hours worked variables can be used to determine which job has more hours. (In the NLSY79, the job with more hours is classified as the CPS job if the respondent has more than one job at the same time.)

Borrowing questions from the Current Population Survey (CPS), rounds 1, 4, and 10 of the NLSY97 asked respondents age 15 and older about their labor force status in the week before the interview (note that all respondents had reached age 15 by round 4).  These respondents provided information on the characteristics of their current job (e.g., usual number of hours, type of business).  Any respondent who did not report working was questioned on job search activities in the previous month.  For those who reported looking for work, data on the type of search activity were also collected.  Through these questions, the employment status (e.g., working, looking for work, unable to work) of the respondent can be defined according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) definition.  BLS uses a similar set of CPS questions to determine the monthly labor force participation and unemployment rates for the nation.

Comparison to Other NLS Surveys:  Current labor force status was determined for all respondents in the NLSY79 for 1979 through 1998 and the four Original Cohorts for each survey year.  From 1994 through 1998, labor force status was also determined for Children of the NLSY79 age 15 and older.  However, the current labor force status questions were changed for the NLSY79 in 1994 and for the women's cohorts in 1995 to reflect the redesign of the CPS.  Users should employ caution when comparing labor force status from surveys before these years to the NLSY97.  For more information, consult the appropriate cohort's User's Guide.

Survey Instruments:  These questions are found in the CPS section (question names begin with YCPS) of the rounds 1, 4, and 10 of the NLSY97 Youth Questionnaire.

Related User's Guide Sections

 Job Search

Main Area of Interest

 Created Variables
Labor Force Status
Supplemental Areas of Interest Job Search
Jobs & Employers

 

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