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National Longitudinal Surveys
Bureau of Labor Statistics > National Longitudinal Surveys > Home

NLSY79 Geocode Data

The NLSY79 Geocode CD provides a variety of statistics for the counties where respondents lived at each interview date from the 1972, 1977, 1983, 1988, and 1994 editions of the U.S. Census Bureau’s County and City Data Book. These variables are included for survey years 1979-2002 though, not all County and City Data Book statistics were used in each survey round.

County and City Data Book:

  • Geocode variables connected to factors that might influence the respondent’s education and employment outcomes such as the number of serious crimes, households with children, female householders with no spouse present, persons with high school or college degrees, and families below the poverty level. Geocode variables summarizing medical availability for each county, consisting of both the number of active nonfederal physicians and the number of community hospital beds.
  • Geocode variables associated with economic and labor force issues such as the size of the county’s civilian labor force, the percent employed in various industries, and the percent of workers age 16 and over with jobs outside their county of residence. Income variables include per capita money income for the respondent’s county, per capita personal income, and median family money income. The unemployment rates for metropolitan areas or for the portions of the state not in an MSA are also reported.

  • Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Systems (IPEDS):

  • The last group of variables on the NLSY79 Geocode CD involve colleges attended by respondents. Survey staff use information from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Systems (IPEDS) to provide users with the code identifying each college attended by the respondent and its location. These codes can be used to associate the NLSY79 respondent’s college with various characteristics of the institution contained in the IPEDS database.

NLSY79 Young Adult Geocode Data

In a separate file on the NLSY79 Geocode CD many of the same variables for the mothers (see above) are provided for the Young Adults using the 1988 and 1994 editions of the County and City Data Book.

Due to the detailed nature of the information found on the Geocode CD, use of this dataset is restricted to those meeting confidentiality requirements. The Geocode CD is released only to those who satisfactorily complete the Bureau of Labor Statistics geocode agreement procedure. Final approval rests with the Commissioner of BLS.

For more information please see Frequently Asked Questions about Ordering Geocode Data .
The geocode application document is available online at www.bls.gov/nls/geocodeapp.htm

 

Last Modified Date: June 1, 2018