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National Longitudinal Survey of Older and Young Men (NLSM)

Labor Force Status

Both the Older Men's and Young Men's "Current Labor Force Status" sections collect information on the labor market activity in which respondents were engaged during most of last week. This series replicates the questions asked in the monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) of American households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the U.S. Department of Labor. The primary purpose of the CPS is to collect up-to-date information about the number of persons in the country who are employed, unemployed, or not looking for work during a given survey week. Results from the CPS surveys, released in the monthly publication Employment and Earnings, provide detailed information, classified by age, sex, race, and a variety of other characteristics, on the employment and unemployment experience of the U.S. population.

A series of variables are available, for both cohorts, on respondents' labor force status during the survey week. In addition to these respondent-specific variables discussed below, data are available on the work experiences of other family and household members.

Survey Week Labor Force Status

The following three sets of variables are available on each respondent's labor force status during the survey week:

Activity Most of Survey Week: The 'Activity Most of Survey Week' variables reflect each respondent's reply to the survey question "What were you doing most of last week?" "Last week" refers to the full calendar week (Sunday through Saturday) preceding the date of interview. Although coding categories differ by cohort, the following categories of responses have been used to classify data within each cohort: (a) working, (b) with a job--not at work, (c) looking for work, (d) going to school, (e) unable to work, and (f) other. An additional coding category, "retired," is present for all survey years of the Older Men; "keeping house" was added as a coding category for the 1990 Older Men survey.

Definitions for each of these labor market activities are intended to be consistent with those utilized in the CPS. Charts found earlier in this section provide definitions of key CPS labor force concepts; Census interviewers are instructed to use their CPS manual for assistance in coding the current labor force status questions. Due to the fact that Census is responsible for CPS data collection, it is likely that NLS CPS questions are interpreted in a consistent manner.

The main survey week activity question is followed by a second question that seeks to identify those respondents who did any work at all last week in addition to a main survey week non-working activity (such as "looking for work" or "going to school"); this follow-up question is asked of all respondents except those who indicate that they were working or were unable to work.

Employment Status Recode (ESR): ESR is a variable created by the Census Bureau that recodes responses to various employment-related questions into a consistent and more accurate measure of each respondent's survey week labor force activity. A series of decision rules, depicted in Table 4.18.1 below, cluster information collected from ten questions dealing with, for example, main survey week activity, hours worked, whether/why absent from a job, job search activity, occupation, class of worker, etc. into positive or negative indicators of "working," "with a job but not at work," and "unemployed (looking for work)." In order to be assigned to one of these recodes, a respondent must display at least two positive and no negative indicators that he belongs to one of these groups; otherwise he is considered to belong to one of the "not in the labor force" categories. More detail on the decision pathways used to assign each recode and on exceptions to the general rules presented below can be found in "Standardized Employment Status Questions and Recodes" (Census 1977).

ESR is available for all survey years except for the years in which telephone interviews were conducted. Information on creation inconsistencies can be found in the user note below as well as within each cohort's codebook.

Labor Force Group Variables: Check items present in the questionnaires of the Older and Young Men provide a series of summary variables indicating the labor force group to which a respondent belonged, e.g., working, looking for work, unable to work, retired, or in the armed forces. Variables which compare current survey year's labor force group with that of the previous survey year and which link labor force group to other variables such as school enrollment, presence of children under age 18, marital or retirement status are available for select survey years and cohorts.

Survey Instruments Questions on main survey week activity are located at the beginning of the "Current Labor Force Status" sections of each questionnaire. The labor force group variables appear as check items throughout the questionnaires.
Documentation Each year's Interviewers' Reference Manual provides detailed instructions for interviewers on how to code this section of the questionnaire in a manner consistent with CPS. Decision rules that guide Census in its creation of the 'Employment Status Recode' variables can be found in "Attachment 5: Standardized Employment Status Questions and Recodes (Census 1977)" in the Codebook Supplements.

Table 1. Employment Status Recode Creation: Older and Young Men

Ten Employment-Related Questions Used to Create ESR/MLR
  • Major activity
  • Whether worked last week
  • Hours worked
  • Whether absent from job
  • Why absent from job
  • Whether looking for work
  • What doing to find work
  • Reason could not take job (availability for work)
  • Occupation
  • Class of worker
  ESR/MLR - 1 WORKING ESR/MLR - 2 WITH A JOB, 
NOT AT WORK		 ESR/MLR - 3 UNEMPLOYED (LOOKING FOR WORK)
Positive indicators
  1. Working last week
  2. 15+ hours worked
  3. Class of worker entry other than "never worked"
  4. <>1-14 hours worked combined with class of worker entry other than "without pay"
  1. Absent from job or business
  2. Class of worker entry other than "without pay" or "never worked"
  3. Reason for absence from work other than "layoff" or "new job to begin in 30 days"
  1. Absent from job or business
  2. Reason for absence is "layoff" or "new job to begin in 30 days"
  3. Looking for work
  4. Any entry in class of worker (including "never worked" and "without pay") 
  5. Method of looking for work entered other than "nothing"
Negative indicators
  1. 1-14 hours worked combined with class of worker = "without pay"
  1. Reason for absence from work is "layoff" or "new job to begin in 30 days"
  2. Working last week
  3. Any hours worked
  4. Class of worker is "without pay"
  1. Method of looking for work is "nothing"
  2. Not available for work
  3. Reason for absence from work is "other" (not "layoff" or "new job to begin in 30 days") 
  4. Working last week
  5. Any hours worked
Source: Census Bureau. "Standardized Employment Status Questions and Recodes." Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, April 1977. This document is distributed by CHRR as "Attachment 5: Employment Status Recodes" and is an important source of information on exceptions to the general indicators listed above.

User note about employment status recodes

The various codes that categorize activities for those respondents not in the labor force vary across survey years and cohort. Tables 2 and 3 present the coded values by survey year for the Older and Young Men ESR variables.

Table 2. Employment Status Recode Codes: Older Men

  1966 1967 1968 1969 1971 1976 1981 1990
Working 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
With a Job, Not at Work 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Unemployed 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
In School 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Retired 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Unable to Work 6 6,71 6 6,71 6,71 6 6 6
Blank 7   7          
Other 8 8 8 8 8 7 7 8
Keeping House               7
Never Worked 0 0 0 0 0      
Noninterview (Blank All Years)              
                 
1 Two codes were used in these surveys to distinguish between years. For example, the 1967 "Unable to Work" code was separated into "6-Unable to work in 1967 only" and "7-Unable to work in 1966 and 1967."

Table 3. Employment Status Recode Codes: Young Men

  1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1976 1981
Working 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
With a Job, Not at Work 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Unemployed 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
In School 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Blank 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Unable to Work 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
Blank 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
Other 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
Never Worked 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Noninterview (Blank All Years)              

User note about employment status

While the "Current Labor Force Status" sections of NLS questionnaires follow the wording and format of those asked in the CPS, users should be aware that NLS CPS sections include additional questions over and above those found in the CPS surveys.

ESR has been traditionally used by many researchers to restrict the sample of those respondents interviewed in a given survey year. Users should be aware that this procedure cannot be used with data from the 1990 Older Men cohort and should consult the codebook notation for ESR.

Researchers examining employment over time can construct a loose approximation of ESR by using positive responses to the following three questions: (1) Did you do any work at all last week? (2) Did you have a job or business from which you were temporarily absent? and (3) Have you been looking for work? A respondent, for example, who is coded "Other" on 'Activity Most of Survey Week' but has a job from which s/he was absent would be reclassified as "working."

Labor Force Status Tables

The tables in the following section are organized as follows: Tables 4 and 5 depict the labor force status, as measured by 'Employment Status Recode' variables, across survey years for the Older Men sample as a whole and for respondents by race. Tables 6 and 7 provide similar information for the Young Men. Readers should note that these tables contain unweighted frequencies. They should only be used as an aid in describing raw frequency counts in these data and must not be used to make inferences about population data.

Table 4. Labor Force Status: Older Men Civilian Respondents 1966-90

Survey Year 1966 1967 1968 1969 1971 1976 1981 1990
Total Interviewed 5020 4744 4648 4381 4175 3487 2832 2092
In the Labor Force Total 4673 4377 4221 3942 3550 2148 1070 298
Employed 4595 4295 4131 3884 3469 2044 1032 291
Unemployed 78 82 90 58 81 104 38 7
Not in the Labor Force Total 347 367 427 439 625 1339 1762 1611
In School 0 1 0 2 2 0 0 0
Retired 42 28 89 62 186 915 1440 1469
Unable to Work 219 276 314 302 327 331 178 107
Other 81 60 24 72 109 93 144 31
Keeping House -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 4
Never Worked 5 2 0 1 1 -- -- --
ESR not available -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 183
Not Interviewed 0 276 372 845 845 1533 2188 2928
Year Total 5020 5020 5020 5020 5020 5020 5020 5020

Table 5. Labor Force Status: Older Men Civilian Respondents by Race 1966-90

Survey Year 1966 1967 1968 1969 1971 1976 1981 1990
Non-Black Respondents
Total Interviewed 3600 3402 3338 3141 3016 2521 2077 1603
In the Labor Force Total 3394 3186 3080 2865 2613 1578 813 250
Employed 3348 3139 3035 2829 2570 1512 792 248
Unemployed 46 47 45 36 43 66 21 2
Not in the Labor Force Total 206 216 258 276 403 943 1264 1223
In School 0 1 0 2 2 0 0 0
Retired 31 24 66 48 138 703 1071 1139
Unable to Work 118 156 176 175 194 187 91 59
Other 55 34 16 51 69 53 102 22
Keeping House -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3
Never Worked 2 1 0 0 0 -- -- --
ESR not available -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 130
Not Interviewed 0 198 262 459 584 1079 1523 1997
Year Total 3600 3600 3600 3600 3600 3600 3600 3600
Black Respondents
Total Interviewed 1420 1342 1310 1240 1159 966 755 489
In the Labor Force Total 1279 1191 1141 1077 937 570 257 48
Employed 1247 1156 1096 1055 899 532 240 43
Unemployed 32 35 45 22 38 38 17 5
Not in the Labor Force Total 141 151 169 163 222 396 498 388
In School 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Retired 11 4 23 14 48 212 369 330
Unable to Work 101 120 138 127 133 144 87 48
Other 26 26 8 21 40 40 42 9
Keeping House -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1
Never Worked 3 1 0 1 1 -- -- --
ESR not available -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 53
Not Interviewed 0 78 110 180 261 454 665 931
Year Total 1420 1420 1420 1420 1420 1420 1420 1420

Table 6. Labor Force Status: Young Men Civilian Respondents 1966-81

Survey Year 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1976 1981
Total Interviewed 5225 4790 4318 4033 3993 3987 3695 3398
In the Labor Force Total 3620 3504 3380 3328 3441 3599 3525 3292
Employed 3221 3133 3138 3087 3176 3342 3345 3136
Unemployed 399 371 242 241 265 257 180 156
Not in the Labor Force Total 1605 1286 938 705 552 388 170 106
In School 997 994 751 527 383 253 67 21
Unable to Work 5 9 12 9 12 23 37 37
Other 71 81 109 143 1371 112 66 48
Never Worked 532 202 66 26 20 0 0 0
Not Interviewed 0 435 907 1192 1232 1238 1530 1827
Year Total 5225 5225 5225 5225 5225 5225 5225 5225
                 
1 Includes two respondents recoded from "Code 7" to "Code 8-Other."

Table 7. Labor Force Status: Young Men Civilian Respondents by Race 1966-81

Survey Year 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1976 1981
Non-Black Respondents
Total Interviewed 3787 3477 3155 2976 2962 2998 2848 2622
In the Labor Force Total 2595 2534 2452 2449 2535 2704 2728 2549
Employed 2363 2322 2318 2307 2379 2540 2623 2466
Unemployed 232 212 134 142 156 164 105 83
Not in the Labor Force Total 1192 943 703 527 427 294 120 73
In School 774 728 573 410 315 212 61 18
Unable to Work 3 7 7 5 7 15 22 29
Other 44 58 76 97 951 67 37 26
Never Worked 371 150 47 15 10 0 0 0
Not Interviewed -- 310 632 811 825 789 939 1165
Year Total 3787 3787 3787 3787 3787 3787 3787 3787
Black Respondents
Total Interviewed 1438 1313 1163 1057 1031 989 847 776
In the Labor Force Total 1025 970 928 879 906 895 797 743
Employed 858 811 820 780 797 802 722 670
Unemployed 167 159 108 99 109 93 75 73
Not in the Labor Force Total 413 343 235 178 125 94 50 33
In School 223 266 178 117 68 41 6 3
Unable to Work 2 2 5 4 5 8 15 8
Other 27 23 33 46 421 45 29 22
Never Worked 161 52 19 11 10 0 0 0
Not Interviewed -- 125 275 381 407 449 591 662
Year Total 1438 1438 1438 1438 1438 1438 1438 1438
                 
1 Includes one respondent in each racial group recoded from "Code 7" to "Code 8-Other."