Occupations

Employment
Occupations
Created Variables
CPSOCC70: 1970 Occupational classifications for CPS or current/most recent job (for CPS job from 1980-1993)
OCCALL-EMP.#: 1970 Occupational classifications for non CPS job (for non CPS jobs from 1980-1993)
OCCALL-EMP.#: 1970 Occupational classifications for all jobs (for CPS job and non-CPS jobs from 1994-2000)
OCCALL-EMP.#: 2000 Occupational classifications for all jobs (for CPS job and non-CPS jobs from 2002 forward).
CPSOCC80: 1980 Occupational classifications for CPS or current/most recent job (for CPS job from 1982-1994 and for job #1 from 1994-2000)
OCCSP-55I: 1970 Occupational classifications for R's most recent spouse (partner also starting in 1994) (for 1979-1996)
OCCSP-55I_CODE: 1970 Occupational classifications for R's most recent spouse/partner (1970 codes in 1998/2000, 2000 codes from 2002 forward)
JOBSOCC-#: 1970 Occupational classifications for R's government program jobs (for 1979-1987)
Important Information About Using Occupations Data
- Beginning in 1994, NLSY79 CAPI administered surveys are preloaded with the last occupation. To reduce errors and save on the amount of coding, each respondent is asked if the occupation reported last time is still correct. Only if the respondent states this information is no longer correct is the occupation recoded.
- "Employer" is the unit for which occupations are asked in the NLSY79. Be careful in making inferences about occupational mobility as miscoding is present. When occupation codes for the same employer in adjacent interview years are compared (see Work History Data for more information on linking employers across rounds), it has been found that respondents use slightly different words to describe their occupation and coders may interpret the same words in different ways in different years. Therefore, workers who change occupations, even though they stay in the same firm, may generate changes in industry codes. This problem was reduced significantly when the survey started confirming preloaded information in 1994.
- The 1979 occupation codes for Job #1 (the CPS job) are only blank placeholders, due to the structure of the job history and "CPS" sections in the initial survey year (1979). The information is contained in the CPS section, but these variables were used as placeholders in anticipation of the future structure of the Employer Supplement.
Year(s) | Universe |
1979-1980 | All current jobs from which R was not laid off in CPS section; other jobs that are government-sponsored part-time or summer jobs, government sponsored jobs for those not in regular school, part of a tax credit program or any other government sponsored program in employer supplement; other jobs R is > 15 years of age & >= 20 hours/week & >= 9 weeks worked since date of last interview in employer supplements |
1981 | All current jobs from which R was not laid off in CPS section; other jobs that are government-sponsored part-time or summer jobs, government sponsored jobs for those not in regular school, part of a tax credit program or any other government sponsored program in employer supplement; other jobs >= 20 hours/week & >= 9 weeks worked since date of last interview in employer supplements |
1982-1984 | All current/most recent jobs in CPS section; other jobs that are government-sponsored part-time or summer jobs, government sponsored jobs for those not in regular school, part of a tax credit program or any other government sponsored program in employer supplement; other jobs >= 20 hours/week & >= 9 weeks worked since date of last interview in employer supplements |
1985 | All current/most recent jobs in CPS section; other jobs that are part of a tax credit program or any government sponsored program in employer supplement; other jobs >= 20 hours/week & >= 9 weeks worked since date of last interview in employer supplements |
1986 | All current/most recent jobs in CPS section; other jobs that are part of a tax credit program or any government sponsored program in employer supplement; other jobs >= 10 hours/week & >= 9 weeks worked since date of last interview in employer supplements |
1987 | All current/most recent jobs in CPS section; other jobs that are part of any government sponsored program in employer supplement; other jobs >= 10 hours/week & >= 9 weeks worked since date of last interview in employer supplements |
1988-1993 | All current/most recent jobs in CPS section; other jobs >= 10 hours/week & >= 9 weeks worked since date of last interview in employer supplements |
1994-2000 | All current/most recent jobs; other jobs >= 10 hours/week & >= 9 weeks worked since date of last interview. In 1994 a skip error in this instrument resulted in the occupation codes for some current/most recent jobs being missed (see errata). |
2002-2014 | All current/most recent jobs; other jobs >= 10 hours/week & >= 9 weeks worked since date of last interview; self-employed jobs for which the business is not a farm or ranch |
Regularly fielded sections of NLSY79 instruments have collected information on the occupation of respondents' current/last job, jobs since last interview, military job, vocational/technical or government training programs, type of job to which they aspired, and, for those unemployed and out of the labor force, the kind of occupation they were seeking or planned to seek. In addition to this respondent-specific information, data on occupations are also available for other family members, including the spouse and parents of the respondent. Finally, the 1980 school survey collected data on the types of vocational/technical training offered within a respondent's high school.
Verbatim responses to open-ended questions eliciting information on kinds of work or training are entered directly into the survey instrument by the interviewer and subsequently coded using one or more occupational coding schemes. The occupational classification systems listed in Table 1 have been used to code occupations within the NLSY79. Background information on the development of the 1980 classification system and the relationship between the 1970 and 1980 coding categories is available in the 1989 Census publication listed in this section's references.
Table 1. Occupational Coding Classification Systems used in the NLSY79
Note: For Census industrial and occupational codes go to Attachment 3 |
Comparison to Other NLS Cohorts: NLSY79 young adults were asked open-ended questions on the kinds of work or training they had. For both employee and self-employed jobs, NLSY97 respondents' occupations are coded according to the three-digit census occupational classification system. Freelance jobs that do not qualify as self-employment are coded according to the type of work performed. For the Mature and Young Women, occupation has been coded using 1960, 1980, and 1990 systems in various survey years. The occupations of Older and Young Men were recorded using the 1960 codes for all years; in the final two Older Men surveys, occupation was doublecoded using the 1980 system. For more precise details about the content of each survey, consult the appropriate cohort's User's Guide using the tabs above for more information.
References
Duncan, O.D. "A Socioeconomic Index for All Occupations." In Occupations and Social Status, A.J. Reiss, Jr. et al. New York: Free Press, 1961.
U.S. Census Bureau. 1970 Census of Population: Alphabetical Index of Industries and Occupations. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1971.
U.S. Census Bureau. 1980 Census of Population: Alphabetic Index of Industries and Occupations. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1981.
U.S. Census Bureau. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) [standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy]. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/ 2007.
U.S. Department of Defense. "Occupational Conversion Manual: Enlisted/Officer/ Civilian, Defense Manpower Center." Arlington, VA: DOD 1312.1-M, 1977.
Survey Instruments and Documentation | Data on occupations have been collected within various topical sections of the NLSY79 questionnaires: "Current Labor Force Status," "Regular Schooling," "Government Training," "Military," "Family Background," and so forth. The Employer Supplements collect occupational information on the type of job performed for a given employer. The separately administered 1980 School Survey was used to collect information on types of vocational and technical courses offered by those schools surveyed. Attachment 3: Industry and Occupation Codes in the NLSY79 Codebook Supplement provides the detailed codes for the Census and DOD classification systems discussed above. The NLSY High School Transcript Survey: Overview and Documentation contains a copy of the school survey that asked about vocational/technical course offerings. |
Areas of Interest | The census codes for occupations are now consolidated under a single area of interest, "Industry and Occupation". Former areas of interest are also present as secondary areas of interest. |
Cohorts
- NLSY97
- Topical Guide to the Data
- Asterisk Tables
- I. Employment, Unemployment, and Job Search (age restrictions as of interview date)
- II. Schooling (age restrictions as of 12/31/96)
- III. Training (age restrictions as of interview date)
- IV. Income, Assets, and Program Participation
- V. Family Formation (age restrictions as of end of previous calendar year--12/31/96 in rd 1, 12/31/97 in rd 2, and so on)
- VI. Family Background (age restrictions as of 12/31/1996)
- VII. Expectations
- VIII. Attitudes, Behaviors, and Time Use
- IX. Health (age restrictions as of 12/31/96)
- X. Political Participation
- XI. Environmental Variables (in main data set)
- Education
- Employment
- Household, Geography & Contextual Variables
- Family Background
- Marital History, Childcare & Fertility
- Income
- Health
- Attitudes
- Crime & Substance Use
- Asterisk Tables
- Intro to the Sample
- Using & Understanding the Data
- Other Documentation
- Codebook Supplement
- Introduction to the NLSY97 Created Variable Appendices
- Appendix 1: Education Variable Creation
- Enrollment Status and Highest Grade/Degree - Appendix 1
- Date Received Diploma or Degree - Appendix 1
- Number of Grades Repeated or Skipped - Appendix 1
- Number of Schools Attended - Appendix 1
- Credits Earned toward Bachelor's/Associate's Degree - Appendix 1
- Date Left High School and Highest High School Grade - Appendix 1
- Private or Parochial School - Appendix 1
- SAT/ACT Scores - Appendix 1
- Training: Receipt of Certificate or Vocational License - Appendix 1
- Appendix 2: Employment Variable Creation
- Appendix 3: Family Background and Formation
- Household Size as of Survey Date - Appendix 3
- Marital Status and Marital/Cohabitation History - Appendix 3
- Fertility and Child Status - Appendix 3
- Number of Residences since Age 12 - Appendix 3
- Current Citizenship Status - Appendix 3
- Mother's Age at First Birth/Respondent's Birth
- Relationship to Household Parent Figures (Round 1 Parent Interview) - Appendix 3
- Relationship to Household Parent Figures (Rounds 7-9 Childhood Retrospective) - Appendix 3
- Relationship to Household Parent Figures (Interview Date) - Appendix 3
- Appendix 4: Geographic Variable Creation
- Appendix 5: Income and Assets Variable Creation
- Appendix 6: Event History Creation and Documentation
- Appendix 7: Continuous Month Scheme and Crosswalk
- Appendix 8: Instrument Rosters
- Appendix 9: Family Process and Adolescent Outcome Measures
- Appendix 10: CAT-ASVAB Scores
- Appendix 11: Collection of the Transcript Data (High School)
- Appendix 12: Post-Secondary Transcript Study
- Attachment 1: Census Industrial & Occupational Classification Codes
- Geocode Codebook Supplement
- Introduction to NLSY97 Geocode Data
- Attachment 100: Census Bureau State and County Codes
- Attachment 101: Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)/Core-Based Statistical Area (CBSA) Codes
- Attachment 102: IPEDS Data and College Identification Codes
- Attachment 103: Migration Distance Variables for Respondent Locations
- Attachment 104: Codebook Pages for Geocode and Zipcode Variables
- Questionnaires
- Errata
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 17 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 16 Release
- Addendum: Additional NLSY97 Speech & Post-Secondary Variables Available
- Addendum: NLSY97 Post-Secondary Data and Transcript Data Files Now Available
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 15 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 14 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 13 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 12 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 11 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 10 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 9 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 8 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 7 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 6 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 5 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 4 Release
- Errata for NLSY97 Round 3 Release
- Tutorials
- Technical Sampling Report
- Codebook Supplement
- Get Data
- Topical Guide to the Data
- NLSY79
- Topical Guide to the Data
- Intro to the Sample
- Using & Understanding the Data
- Other Documentation
- Codebook Supplement
- NLSY79 Attachment 3: Industrial and Occupational Classification Codes
- NLSY79 Attachment 4: Fields of Study in College
- NLSY79 Attachment 5: Index of Labor Unions and Employee Associations
- NLSY79 Attachment 6: Other Kinds of Training Codes
- NLSY79 Attachment 7: Other Certificate Codes
- NLSY79 Attachment 8: Health Codes
- NLSY79 Attachment 100: Geographic Regions
- NLSY79 Attachment 101: Country Codes
- NLSY79 Attachment 102: Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)
- NLSY79 Attachment 103: Religion Codes
- NLSY79 Attachment 106: Profiles of American Youth (ASVAB Data/AFQT Scores)
- NLSY79 Appendix 1: Employment Status Recode Variables (1979-1998 and 2006)
- NLSY79 Appendix 2: Total Net Family Income Variable Creation (1979-2014)
- NLSY79 Appendix 3: Job Satisfaction Measures
- NLSY79 Appendix 4: Job Characteristics Index 1979-1982
- NLSY79 Appendix 5: Supplemental Fertility and Relationship Variables
- NLSY79 Appendix 6: Urban-Rural and SMSA-Central City Variables
- NLSY79 Appendix 7: Unemployment Rate
- NLSY79 Appendix 8: Highest Grade Completed & Enrollment Status Variable Creation
- NLSY79 Appendix 9: Linking Employers Through Survey Years
- NLSY79 Appendix 11: Round 12 (1990) Survey Administration Methods
- NLSY79 Appendix 12: Most Important Job Learning Activities (1993-94)
- NLSY79 Appendix 13: Intro to CAPI Questionnaires and Codebooks
- NLSY79 Appendix 14: Instrument Rosters
- NLSY79 Appendix 15: Recipiency Event Histories
- NLSY79 Appendix 16: 1994 Recall Experiment
- NLSY79 Appendix 17: Interviewer Characteristics Data
- NLSY79 Appendix 18: Work History Data
- NLSY79 Appendix 19: SF-12 Health Scale Scoring
- NLSY79 Appendix 20: Round 20 (2002) Early Bird and Income Recall Experiments
- NLSY79 Appendix 21: Attitudinal Scales
- NLSY79 Appendix 22: Migration Distance Variables for Respondent Locations
- NLSY79 Appendix 23: Revised Asset and Debt Variables and Computed Net Worth Variables
- NLSY79 Appendix 24: Reanalysis of the 1980 AFQT Data from the NLSY79
- NLSY79 Appendix 25: Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale
- NLSY79 Appendix 26: Non-Response to Financial Questions and Entry Points
- NLSY79 Appendix 27: IRT Item Parameter Estimates, Scores and Standard Errors
- NLSY79 Appendix 28: NLSY79 Employer History Roster
- Geocode Codebook Supplement
- Appendix 7: Unemployment Rates
- Appendix 10: Geocode Documentation
- Attachment 100: Geographic Regions
- Attachment 101: Country Codes
- Attachment 102: State FIPS Codes
- Attachment 104, Part A: 1981 Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs)
- Attachment 104, Part B: 1983 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs)
- Attachment 104, Part C: 1983 Consolidated MSAs and Associated Primary MSAs (CMSAs and PMSAs)
- Attachment 104, Part D: 1983 PMSAs and Associated CMSAs
- Attachment 104, Part E: 1988 MSAs, CMSAs, and Associated PMSAs
- Attachment 104, Part F: 2004 MSAs, CMSAs, and Associated PMSAs
- Attachment 104, Part G: 2006 Core-Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs)
- Attachment 105: Addendum to FICE Codes
- Attachment 106: Codebook Pages for Geocode and Zipcode Variables
- Questionnaires
- Tutorials
- Errata
- Technical Sampling Report
- School & Transcript Surveys Documentation
- Codebook Supplement
- Get Data
- NLSY79 Child/YA
- Topical Guide to the Data
- Intro to the Sample
- Using & Understanding the Data
- Other Documentation
- Codebook Supplement
- Appendix A: HOME-SF Scales (NLSY79 Child)
- Appendix B: Composition of the Temperament Scales (NLSY79 Child)
- Appendix C: Motor & Social Development (NLSY79 Child)
- Appendix D: Behavior Problems Index (NLSY79 Child)
- Appendix D, Part 1: Composition of the BPI subscales
- Appendix D, Part 2a: BPI Anxious/Depressed Subscale
- Appendix D, Part 2b: BPI Antisocial Subscale
- Appendix D, Part 2c: BPI Dependent Subscale
- Appendix D, Part 2d: BPI Headstrong Subscale
- Appendix D, Part 2e: BPI Hyperactive Subscale
- Appendix D, Part 2f: BPI Peer Conflicts/Withdrawn Subscale
- Appendix D, Part 2g: BPI Full Scale
- Appendix D, Part 3a: BPI Internalizing Subscale
- Appendix D, Part 3b: BPI Externalizing Subscale
- Appendix D, Part 3c: BPI Total Scores
- Appendix E: Sample SPSSx Program for Merging NLSY79 Child/YA & Mother Files
- Appendix F: Sample SAS Program for Merging NLSY79 Child/YA & Mother Files
- Appendix G: NLSY79 Child Assessment Scores, Reference Numbers (2010-2014)
- Appendix H: Identification Codes in the Child and Young Adult Database
- Attachment 100: Codebook Pages for Young Adult Geocode Data
- Questionnaires
- Errata
- Errata for 2014 Child/Young Adult Release
- Data Addition: New Work and School Status Variables Created
- Errata for 2012 Child/Young Adult Release
- Errata for 2010 Child/Young Adult Release
- Errata for 2008 Child/Young Adult Release
- Errata for 2006 Child/Young Adult Release
- Errata for 2004 Child/Young Adult Release
- Errata for 2002 Child/Young Adult Release
- Errata for 2000 Child/Young Adult Release
- Errata for NLSY79 Child Interview Dates 1986-1992
- Research/Technical Reports
- Codebook Supplement
- Get Data
- NLS Mature and Young Women
- NLS Older and Young Men