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After 40 Years, How Representative Are Labor Market Outcomes in the NLSY79?

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Abstract

In 1979, the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) began following a group of U.S. residents born between 1957 and 1964 and has continued to reinterview these same individuals for more than four decades. Despite this long sampling period, attrition remains modest. This article shows that after 40 years of data collection, the remaining NLSY79 sample continues to be broadly representative of their national cohorts regarding key labor market outcomes. For NLSY79 age cohorts, life-cycle profiles of employment, hours worked, and earnings are comparable to those in the Current Population Survey. Moreover, the distribution of lifetime earnings over the age range 25 to 55 closely aligns with the distribution found in Social Security Administration data. Our results suggest that the NLSY79 can continue to provide useful data for economists and other social scientists studying life-cycle and lifetime labor market outcomes, including earnings inequality.

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  • Alexander Bick & Adam Blandin & Richard Rogerson, 2025. "After 40 Years, How Representative Are Labor Market Outcomes in the NLSY79?," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 107(2), pages 1-50, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlrv:99536
    DOI: 10.20955/r.2025.02
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    1. Fatih Guvenen & Greg Kaplan & Jae Song & Justin Weidner, 2022. "Lifetime Earnings in the United States over Six Decades," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 446-479, October.
    2. Thomas MaCurdy & Thomas Mroz & R. Mark Gritz, 1998. "An Evaluation of the National Longitudinal Survey on Youth," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 33(2), pages 345-436.
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    2. Alexander Bick & Adam Blandin & Richard Rogerson, 2024. "Hours Worked and Lifetime Earnings Inequality," NBER Working Papers 32997, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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