National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), 1979-1992

DESCRIPTION :   The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 NLSY79 is a nationally representative sample of 12,686 young men and young women who where 14 to 22 years of age when they were first surveyed in 1979. During the years since that first interview, these young people have finished their schooling, moved out of their parental homes, made decisions on continuing education and training, entered the labor market, served in the military, and married and started families of their own. Data collected during the yearly surveys of the NLSY chronicle these changes and provide researchers a unique opportunity to study in detail the life course experiences of a large group of young adults who can be considered representative of all American men and women born in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The NLSY is comprised of three subsamples:

•  A cross-sectional sample of 6,111 youth designed to be representative of the non institutionalized civilian segment of young people living in the U.S. in 1979 and born between January 1, 19 57 and December 31, 19 64;

•  A supplemental sample of 5,295 youth designed to oversample civilian Hispanic, black, and economically disadvantaged white youth living in the U.S. in 1979 and born between January 1, 19 57 and December 31, 19 64;

•  A sample of 1,280 youth designed to represent the population born between January 1, 19 57 and December 31, 19 61 (who were aged 17-21 as of January 1, 1979 ) and who were enlisted in the four branches of the military as of September 30, 1978 .

CODEBOOKS : Codebooks are available on CD-rom obtainable from the CFDR office. The NLSY79 errata is also available at http://www.nlsinfo.org/nlsy79/nlsy79_errata.php3 .

DATA : The NLSY79 public-use file that includes data from rounds 1-20 (1979-2002) was released in June 2004. The data can be downloaded free from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website as zipped files or through the NLS Investigator which is a client/server software program that allows the user (client) to connect to a database of variables (on the server) and to perform extracts of variables in a specific database. The same data may be also obtained with the NLS Investigatorsoftware by filling out a CFDR data request form or contacting the CFDR office at 372-7279 .

WEBLINKS : http://www.nlsinfo.org/ordering/display_db.php3 - NLSY79 .

CONDITIONS FOR USE : The NLSY79 Geocode data can only be made available to users who have successfully completed a geocode application and signed a confidentiality agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Y ou must first register online before we can distribute the data to you. Before gaining access to the NLSY79 Geocode data, please review the information athttp://stats.bls.gov/nls/nlsgeo79.htm .