The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) is a nationally representative sample of men and women who were born in the years 1957 to 1964 and living in the United States when the survey began in 1979. The sample members were ages 14 to 22 during the first round of data collection. A primary focus of the NLSY79 is labor force behavior, but the content of the survey is considerably broader. The NLSY79 includes questions on educational attainment, training, income and assets, participation in government programs, health, workplace injuries, insurance coverage, alcohol and drug use, sexual activity, marital and fertility histories, and other topics. The NLSY79 was conducted annually from 1979 through 1994 and has been conducted biennially since 1994. The original sample included supplemental samples of blacks, Hispanics, economically disadvantaged nonblack/non-Hispanics, and youths in the military. The military supplemental sample was discontinued after the 1984 survey, and the economically disadvantaged nonblack/non-Hispanic supplemental sample was discontinued after the 1990 survey. Since 1986, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also has conducted a study of all children born to female NLSY79 respondents. The survey is called the NLSY79 Child and Young Adult survey (NLSY79 CYA) and has been sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). In concert with the NLSY79 CYA, NICHD also sponsored several questions within the main NLSY79 survey dealing with children and fertility issues. Round 29 (R29) of the NLSY79 CYA will interview children and young adults ages 12 to 24 and include many questions modeled on the NLSY79 questionnaire focusing on employment, schooling, family, and social life. Beginning in 1999, participants in the NLSY79 CYA who reached the age of 21 by December of the survey year were transferred to a separate survey, the NLSY79 Young Adult survey of members over age 20 (NLSY79 YA). This round, the NLSY79 YA survey will interview young adults over age 24; the NLSY79 CYA will interview all those 24 years old and under. The Center for Human Resource Research (CHRR) at the Ohio State University (OSU) will conduct the NLSY79 YA under NICHD peer-reviewed grant HD037078. The NLSY79 YA survey, though funded by a grant, remain as a BLS survey and will be conducted under a formal letter of agreement with OSU. The NLSY79 YA will be fielded in conjunction with the main NLSY79 survey and the NLSY79 CYA, and is reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget (0MB) as part of the same clearance package as the main NLSY79 and the NLSY79 CYA. This agreement provides for the transfer of funds in FY 2020 from NICHD to BLS to: (1) conduct survey preparations for the NLSY79 CYA, R29; (2) collect data on schooling, employment, family, and social life in the NLSY79 CYA, R29; (3) process data from the NLSY79 CYA, R29 and disseminate these data on the NLS website and provide User Services to researchers.
