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National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79)

Employer History Roster

The Employer History roster includes information on virtually all employers reported by NLSY79 respondents, with many of the employer characteristics reported for each employer included in a single record. These variables are classified as "XRND" variables, rather than being assigned to a single survey year. Data from each survey year are currently available. The variables will be updated as necessary as revisions are made and with each progressive round.

Structure

In earlier years, the linking process required to build a record of various commonly used employer-specific characteristics that have been reported in different survey years has involved a rather complex process. Researchers would need to use variables indicating the employer number in the previous survey year and establish the link through each preceding year individually. Appendix 9: Linking Employers Through Survey Years details this process.

By contrast, the Employer History roster is designed to help alleviate that more involved process of employer linking for many of the most commonly used employer characteristics. The Employer History data is constructed in a roster structure, consisting of one record for each of the up to 65 jobs (so up to 65 records). Many employer characteristics have been compiled into each employer's record. The record for each employer will include each of the variables listed in the table below. For instance, the record for employer #1 will contain EMPLOYERS_ALL_CPSJOB_[YEAR].01, EMPLOYERS_ALL_UNION_[YEAR].01, EMPLOYERS_ALL_IND_[YEAR].01, EMPLOYERS_ALL_OCC_[YEAR].01, etc. for each survey year that employer #1 was reported.

Data Notes

Employer information for additional employers (jobs 6-10) in some of the older survey years may not have been included in the roster. These jobs were often included on separate data tapes, the original data of which has been difficult to recover. Should any of these data on additional employers be recovered in the future, that data will be added to the Employer History roster accordingly and users notified of these additions. These employers comprise a very small proportion of those ever reported for a very small number of respondents.

Locating Employer History variables

The Employer History items can be easily located within the NLSY79 dataset on NLS Investigator by using one of the following search criteria:

  • Question Name (enter search term) index, "starts with", enter "EMPLOYERS_ALL" search term
  • Area of Interest (pick from list) index, "equals", choose areas of interest beginning with "EMPLOYERS_ALL"
  • Reference Number (enter search term), "starts with", enter "E"

Table 1 lists the contents of the Employer History roster. The variables are listed under the Areas of Interest currently assigned. The "variable names" column contains the qnames for each of the variables. Currently there are up to 65 jobs for each respondent included on the roster. This means that at least one respondent has reported 65 jobs over the course of the NLSY79's 27 rounds. Most respondents of course will have a much smaller number of jobs reported since 1979.

Table 1: Employer History Roster Contents by Area of Interest

EMPLOYER HISTORY--JOB CHARACTERISTICS
Variable names Description Notes
EMPLOYERS_ALL_GOVJOB_[YEAR].[JOB#] Was this job a government job? Each job, each survey year through 1987
EMPLOYERS_ALL_CPSJOB_[YEAR].[JOB#] Was this job the CPS (current/most recent) job? Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYERS_ALL_UNION_[YEAR].[JOB#] R covered by union or employee contract on the job? Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYERS_ALL_CURWK_[YEAR].[JOB#] R currently working for employer at date of interview? Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYER HISTORY--JOB EMPLOYER IDs
EMPLOYERS_ALL_NUM_ARRAY_[YEAR].[JOB#] Number loaded into Work History Labor Force Status array Each job, each survey year; from this we hope to eventually create a parallel Labor Force Status array with a single job number for each job all the way through
EMPLOYERS_ALL_PREVID_[YEAR].[JOB#] ID number of job in survey year Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYERS_ALL_ID_[YEAR].[JOB#] ID number of job in survey year Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYERS_ALL_UID.[JOB#] A "unique" employer id assigned to employers, consisting of the survey year and an employer number for that survey year Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYER HISTORY--JOB HOURS WORKED
EMPLOYERS_ALL_HOURSDAY_[YEAR].[JOB#] Hours per day usually worked at job Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYERS_ALL_HOURSWEEK_[YEAR].[JOB#] Hours per week usually worked at job Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYER HISTORY--JOB INDUSTRY, OCCUPATION AND CLASS OF WORKER
EMPLOYERS_ALL_IND_[YEAR].[JOB#] Type of business or industry for employer Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYERS_ALL_OCC_[YEAR].[JOB#] Occupation for employer Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYERS_ALL_COW_[YEAR].[JOB#] Class of worker for employer Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYER HISTORY--JOB ORIGINAL STARTDATES AND MOST RECENT STOPDATES AND REASON LEFT JOB
EMPLOYERS_ALL_STOPDATE_MOST_RECENT.[JOB#]~[D/M/Y] Most recent stopdates for employer Each job
EMPLOYERS_ALL_STARTDATE_ORIGINAL.[JOB#]~[D/M/Y] Original startdate for employer Each job
EMPLOYERS_ALL_WHYLEFT_MOST_RECENT.[JOB#] Most recent reason given for leaving employer Each job
EMPLOYER HISTORY -- JOB PAYRATES AND TIME UNITS
EMPLOYERS_ALL_TIMERATE_[YEAR].[JOB#] Time unit for rate of pay Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYERS_ALL_PAYRATE_[YEAR].[JOB#] Payrate for employer Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYERS_ALL_HRLY_WAGE_[YEAR].[JOB#] Hourly rate of pay for employer Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYER HISTORY -- JOB START DATES
EMPLOYERS_ALL_STADATE_[YEAR].[JOB#]~[D/M/Y] Startdate  for employer Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYER HISTORY -- JOB START WEEKS
EMPLOYERS_ALL_STARTWEEK_[YEAR].[JOB#] Week number of start date for job Each job, each survey year, calculated by Work History programs
EMPLOYER HISTORY -- JOB STOP DATES
EMPLOYERS_ALL_STOPDATE_[YEAR].[JOB#]~[D/M/Y] Stop date for employer Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYER HISTORY -- JOB TENURE AND PRETENURE
EMPLOYERS_ALL_PRETEN_[YEAR].[JOB#] Months worked for employer before date of last interview Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYERS_ALL_TENURE_[YEAR].[JOB#] Total weeks tenure with employer Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYERS_ALL_PAST_[YEAR].[JOB#] R work for employer before date of last interview? Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYERS HISTORY -- JOB WHY LEFT
EMPLOYERS_ALL_WHYLEFT_[YEAR].[JOB#] Reason left job Each job, each survey year
EMPLOYER HISTORY -- WITHIN JOB GAPS REASON NOT WORKING
EMPLOYERS_ALL_WHYNOWK_[YEAR].[JOB#].[GAP#] Reason not working for within job gap Each job, each gap, each survey year
EMPLOYER HISTORY -- WITHIN JOB GAPS START DATES
EMPLOYERS_ALL_PERSTAR_[YEAR].[JOB#].[GAP#] Week number of start dates for within job gap Each job, each gap, each survey year, calculated by Work History programs
EMPLOYER HISTORY -- WITHIN JOB GAPS STOP DATES
EMPLOYERS_ALL_PERSTOP_[YEAR].[JOB#].[GAP#] Week number of stop dates for within job gap Each job, each gap, each survey year, calculated by Work History programs
EMPLOYER HISTORY -- WITHIN JOB GAPS WEEKS LOOKING
EMPLOYERS_ALL_LOOK_[YEAR].[JOB#].[GAP#] Any weeks looking for work during within job gap Each job, each gap, each survey year
EMPLOYER HISTORY -- WITHIN JOB GAPS WEEKS NOT WORKING
EMPLOYERS_ALL_NOTLOOK_[YEAR].[JOB#].[GAP#] Number of weeks not looking for work during within job gap Each job, each gap, each survey year
EMPLOYERS_ALL_WKSNOTWK_[YEAR].[JOB#] Any weeks not working for employer Each job, each survey year