The primary purpose of the five sets of surveys that comprise the National Longitudinal Surveys is the collection of data on the labor force experience of specific age-sex groups of Americans: Older Men aged 45-59 in 1966, Mature Women aged 30-44 in 1967, Young Men aged 14-24 in 1966, Young Women aged 14-24 in 1968, and Youth aged 14-21 in 1979. Each of the 1960s cohorts has been surveyed 12 or more times over the years, and the Youth cohort has been surveyed yearly since 1979. The major topics covered within the surveys of each cohort include: (1) labor market experience variables (including labor force participation, unemployment, job history, and job mobility), (2) socioeconomic and human capital variables (including education, training, health and physical condition, marital and family characteristics, financial characteristics, and job attitudes), and (3) selected environmental variables (size of labor force and unemployment rates for local area). While the surveys of each cohort have collected data on the above core sets of variables, cohort-specific data have been gathered over the years focusing on the particular stage of labor market attachment that each group was experiencing. Thus, the surveys of young people have collected data on their educational goals, high school and college experiences, high school characteristics, and occupational aspirations and expectations, as well as military service. The surveys of women have gathered data on topics such as fertility, child care, responsibility for household tasks, care of parents, volunteer work, attitudes towards women working, and job discrimination. As the older-aged cohorts of men and women approached labor force withdrawal, surveys for these groups collected information on their retirement plans, health status, and pension benefits. Respondents within the 1979 Youth cohort have been the focus of a number of special surveys, including the collection of data on: (1) last secondary school attended, including transcript information and selected aptitude/intelligence scores, (2) test scores from the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), (3) illegal activities participation including police contacts, and (4) alcohol use and substance abuse. Finally, the 1986 and 1988 surveys of the Youth cohort included the administration of a battery of cognitive-socioemotional assessments to the approximately 7,000 children of the female 1979 Youth respondents. Data for the five cohorts are provided within main file releases, i.e., Mature Women 1967-1989, Young Women 1968-1991, Young Men 1966-1981, Older Men 1966-1990, and NLSY (Youth) 1979-1992. In addition, the following specially constructed data files are available: (1) a file that specifies the relationships among members of the four original cohorts living in the same household at the time of the initial surveys, i.e., husband-wife, mother-daughter, brother-sister, etc., (2) an NLSY workhistory tape detailing the week-by-week labor force attachment of the youth respondents from 1978 through the most current survey date, (3) an NLSY child-mother file linking the child assessment data to other information on children and mothers within the NLSY, (4) a supplemental NLSY file of constructed and edited fertility variables, (5) a women's support network tape detailing the geographic proximity of the relatives, friends, and acquaintances of 6,308 female NLSY respondents who were interviewed during the 1983-1985 surveys, and (6) two 1989 Mature Women's pension file detailing information on pensions and other employer-provided benefits. (Source: ICPSR, retrieved 07/05/10)

Please Note: This dataset is part of the historical CISER Data Archive Collection and is also available at ICPSR at https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07610.v1. We highly recommend using the ICPSR version as they may make this dataset available in multiple data formats in the future.

The primary purpose of the five sets of surveys that comprise the National Longitudinal Surveys is the collection of data on the labor force experience of specific age-sex groups of Americans: Older Men aged 45-59 in 1966, Mature Women aged 30-44 in 1967, Young Men aged 14-24 in 1966, Young Women aged 14-24 in 1968, and Youth aged 14-21 in 1979. Each of the 1960s cohorts has been surveyed 12 or more times over the years, and the Youth cohort has been surveyed yearly since 1979. The major topics covered within the surveys of each cohort include: (1) labor market experience variables (including labor force participation, unemployment, job history, and job mobility), (2) socioeconomic and human capital variables (including education, training, health and physical condition, marital and family characteristics, financial characteristics, and job attitudes), and (3) selected environmental variables (size of labor force and unemployment rates for local area). While the surveys of each cohort have collected data on the above core sets of variables, cohort-specific data have been gathered over the years focusing on the particular stage of labor market attachment that each group was experiencing. Thus, the surveys of young people have collected data on their educational goals, high school and college experiences, high school characteristics, and occupational aspirations and expectations, as well as military service. The surveys of women have gathered data on topics such as fertility, child care, responsibility for household tasks, care of parents, volunteer work, attitudes towards women working, and job discrimination. As the older-aged cohorts of men and women approached labor force withdrawal, surveys for these groups collected information on their retirement plans, health status, and pension benefits. Respondents within the 1979 Youth cohort have been the focus of a number of special surveys, including the collection of data on: (1) last secondary school attended, including transcript information and selected aptitude/intelligence scores, (2) test scores from the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), (3) illegal activities participation including police contacts, and (4) alcohol use and substance abuse. Finally, the 1986 and 1988 surveys of the Youth cohort included the administration of a battery of cognitive-socioemotional assessments to the approximately 7,000 children of the female 1979 Youth respondents. Data for the five cohorts are provided within main file releases, i.e., Mature Women 1967-1989, Young Women 1968-1991, Young Men 1966-1981, Older Men 1966-1990, and NLSY (Youth) 1979-1992. In addition, the following specially constructed data files are available: (1) a file that specifies the relationships among members of the four original cohorts living in the same household at the time of the initial surveys, i.e., husband-wife, mother-daughter, brother-sister, etc., (2) an NLSY workhistory tape detailing the week-by-week labor force attachment of the youth respondents from 1978 through the most current survey date, (3) an NLSY child-mother file linking the child assessment data to other information on children and mothers within the NLSY, (4) a supplemental NLSY file of constructed and edited fertility variables, (5) a women's support network tape detailing the geographic proximity of the relatives, friends, and acquaintances of 6,308 female NLSY respondents who were interviewed during the 1983-1985 surveys, and (6) two 1989 Mature Women's pension file detailing information on pensions and other employer-provided benefits.