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NLSY79

NLS Youth '79 Cohort

National Longitudinal Survey of Youth - 1979 Cohort
Short Description: 
Men and women born in the years 1957-64
Short Title: 
NLS Youth 1979
Long Name: 
National Longitudinal Survey of Youth | 1979
Investigator URL: 
https://www.nlsinfo.org/investigator/pages/search?s=NLSY79
Abbreviation: 
NLSY79
Nav Title: 
NLSY79
Nav Link Fragment: 
nlsy79

Errata for 1979-2016 Data Release

Newest Errata

TWO JOBS MISSING FROM WORK HISTORY ARRAYS FOR SINGLE CASE [posted 11/5/2020]

Respondent #6768 (public identification number) has been found to be missing data for two jobs in survey year 2004 (round 21) in some data tables that produce the Work History arrays, the Employer History Roster variables and several other variables. A summary of the variables affected is as follows:

NLSY79/97 Cross-Cohort Data

An NLSY79/NLSY97 cross-cohort beta release is now available on Investigator. See Appendix 13: Cross-Cohort NLSY79/97 Overview (in the NLSY97 User Guide) for information.

2016

Errata for 1979-2014 Data Release

Newest Errata [posted 11/27/2018]

Erroneous MSA Codes (1984-1987)

A small number of Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) codes have been corrected for 16 cases between survey years 1984-1987. Users with an active agreement to use the NLSY79 Geocode data should contact User Services (usersvc@chrr.osu.edu or 614-442-7366) for details. Corrections for these codes will be reflected on the next restricted Geocode data release.

NLSY79 Appendix 28: NLSY79 Employer History Roster

The Employer History Roster (EHR) has been available to public data users since 2013. This sizeable set of variables incorporates a substantial amount of information about each employer into a single record for each. See Appendix 13: Development of Questionnaires and Codebooks for a description of rosters as a data structure.

NLSY79 Appendix 27: IRT Item Parameter Estimates, Scores and Standard Errors

Item response theory (IRT) item parameter estimates, scores and standard errors have been calculated for several attitudinal scales administered in multiple NLSY79 survey years as well as in other NLS cohorts. The following PDF files provide detailed descriptions of the creation procedures for these scales:

NLSY79 Appendix 26: Non-Response to Financial Questions and Entry Points

Financial questions often elicit from respondents either a "refusal" or a "don't know" response. From 1979 to 2000 the NLSY79 interviewers faced with a "refusal" or a "don't know" simply went on to the next question. Starting in 2002, respondents have been asked to estimate financial values if they could not provide an exact value.

Retirement

As the 1979 Youth cohort approached their fifties, questions were added about retirement preparation and expectations, starting with the 2006 survey year. 

Table 1 shows the retirement preparation/expectation variables and the survey years they have been asked. Variable question names begin with the "RETIRE_EXP" prefix.

Computer & Internet Access

In survey year 2000, respondents were asked if they had access to a computer at home running specified operating systems, whether they could access the web using a browser and whether they could access the internet through a modem or other connection. These questions were also asked in the 2002-2012 survey rounds but only if the respondent had not reported internet access at a previous interview.

NLSY79 Appendix 25: Attitudinal Scale Scoring

This appendix contains descriptions of scale score computations and programs that create some of the scale scores for the most recent survey year for the following attitudinal scales:

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