Industry

Open-ended questions (e.g., "What kind of business or industry is/was this?") have been included in each interview. Verbatim responses to this question are coded by Census personnel using three-digit codes from the 1960, 1980, and 1990 classification systems (Census 1960, 1980, and 1990). Two- and one-digit edited versions of these raw variables are available for most survey years for 1960 codes. Table 4.16.1 summarizes the years in which each of the various coding systems have been used. The User Notes at the end of this section contain an extensive discussion of Census/CHRR editing and creation procedures that affect the industry variables.

Information with which to code the industry of the respondent's current job or current/last job was collected during each survey. In addition, the industry of intervening jobs was coded for each personal interview beginning in 1969 and for each dual job reported in a personal interview beginning in 1972. Table 4.19.2 provides information about the coding systems used in the various surveys. The first survey included a retrospective collection of respondents' work experience prior to 1966, which asked about the industry of the longest job ever held and the longest job held between or since certain life cycle events (e.g., between stopping school and first marriage, between first marriage and first child, since the birth of first child, or since first marriage). These life cycle events questions were presented to varying universes (e.g., ever married, married with no children, never married with children, and never married with no children). A five-year retrospective fielded in 1977 included a question on the industry of the longest job held since June 1972. Related variables present for single survey years are (1) 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 (1971) and (2) the industry of the employer from whom the respondent receives or will receive a pension and the type of industry providing a pension for her husband (1989).

Present for each survey year through 1992, edited variables from the Occupation & Industry (O & I) Rewrite provide one-, two-, and three-digit versions of the raw current/last job variables. Several versions of the current/last job variables (e.g., edited and unedited, collapsed and noncollapsed) are also available. See the User Notes section below for additional information.

Table 4.16.2 Industrial Sector of Respondents' Current/Last Job by Survey Year: 1967-2001

Industrial Sector	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
67	4855	184	7	24	1086	182	1047	233	95	726	50	1023	198
68	4638	175	6	25	1048	183	983	208	91	665	46	1012	196
69	4487	186	5	29	998	161	907	204	101	635	40	1042	179
71	4382	177	5	27	891	159	897	211	90	614	33	1089	189
72	4306	169	6	26	837	161	888	206	86	606	32	1106	183
74	4162	172	6	35	818	148	813	187	94	549	23	1130	187
76	4033	158	4	34	750	134	815	195	105	530	27	1091	190
77	3821	159	3	39	698	127	743	181	116	529	20	1029	177
79	3692	145	6	38	669	122	701	184	93	513	20	1018	183
81	3557	134	1	40	635	115	670	186	89	495	21	986	185
82	3429	137	4	35	607	103	638	187	98	459	18	966	177
84	3309	133	5	35	549	92	625	193	96	444	19	939	179
86	3232	122	5	35	525	92	595	178	111	438	24	944	163
87	3143	115	4	34	504	87	571	175	111	445	22	901	174
89	3005	111	4	32	447	82	537	166	126	438	24	878	160
92	2866	97	2	31	413	71	524	150	128	406	23	872	149
95	1131	29	1	13	109	26	192	81	56	117	21	428	58
97	851	27	--	11	79	21	150	57	50	98	13	312	33
99	667	22	--	13	45	16	121	48	42	66	10	248	36
2001	519	18	--	10	32	9	92	38	30	51	9	200	30

Universe: Respondents both working and not working during the survey week for whom an industry code for their current or last job was available.
Note: Through 1995, this table is based on R00713., R00860., R01312., R01999., R02826., R03053., R03270.20, R04515., R04887., R05263., R06631., R07188., R07806., R08861., R10075., R13027., and R18995.-R18999. The 1997 and 1999 numbers are based on the 1990 industry code for each job (e.g., R36398. for job #01 in 1997, R44422. for job #01 in 1999). Through 1992, industries were coded using the 1960 Census classification system. The 199599 data are based on the 1990 classification system.

Survey Instruments & Documentation: Questions about industry affiliation can be found in the regularly fielded "Current Labor Force Status," "Work Experience," "Work Experience & Attitudes," "Retrospective Work History," "Employment," and "Respondent's Employer Supplement" sections of the questionnaire. Industry questions can also be found in the special 1967 "Work Experience Before 1966," 1989 "Pension & Retirement," and 1992-2001 "Husband's Current Labor Force Status"/"Husband's Retrospective Work History" sections of the questionnaires. Part One and Appendix H of "Attachment 2: 1960, 1980 & 1990 Census of Population Industrial & Occupational Codes" in the Codebook Supplement provide listings by industry of the relevant one-, two-, and three-digit codes.

Variable titles for industries listed within the various NLS documentation items do not always specify the Census coding system utilized. If no year is listed, users should assume that the 1960 classification system was used for coding. Recent releases added the year to the title indicating which Census system was used.

Substantive differences exist between a number of similarly titled occupation, industry, and class of worker variables present in the Original Cohort 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 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 either those from the job in which the respondent was employed the week before the interview or 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 in Table 4.16.3.

The user can differentiate O & I Rewrite variables from non-backfilled variables by (a) the absence of a question number in the documentation that identifies the source of the variable or (b) the presence of the word "collapsed" at the end of the O & I variable title. This series ended in 1992 because the 1960 codes no longer matched the U.S.'s industrial structure.

(2) When Census origninally created the 'Employment Status Recode' (ESR) variables, no cleaning or editing of the items from the "CPS" section of the questionnaire was done. In the mid–1980s, recurring problems with the program that created the ESR variables forced Census to create edited “CPS” items. Census sent both unedited and edited versions of these items to CHRR for public release. Edited variables are identified 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. Following the inception of the computer-assisted surveys in 1995, this situation no longer holds true and researchers will only find one version of the CPS variables.

References

Census Bureau. 1960 Census of Population Alphabetical Index of Occupations and Industries (Revised Edition). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1960.

Census Bureau. 1980 Census of Population Classified Index of Industries and Occupations. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1980.

Census Bureau. Census of Population and Housing, 1990, Alphabetical Index of Industries and Occupations. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1990.