[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 248 (Friday, December 27, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71475-71477]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-27950]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Information Collection Activities; Comment Request
AGENCY: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to
reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre-clearance
consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies
with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing
collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995. This program helps to ensure that requested data can be
provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial
resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood,
and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be
properly assessed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting
comments concerning the proposed revision of a currently approved
collection ``National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979.'' A copy of
the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be obtained by
contacting the individual listed in the ADDRESSES section of this
notice.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the
ADDRESSES section below on or before February 25, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Carol Rowan, BLS Clearance Officer,
Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 4080,
2 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20212. Written comments also
may be transmitted by fax to 202-691-5111 (this is not a toll free
number).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carol Rowan, BLS Clearance Officer,
202-691-7628 (this is not a toll free number). (See ADDRESSES section.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) is a
representative national sample of
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persons who were born in the years 1957 to 1964 and lived in the U.S.
in 1978. These respondents were ages 14 to 22 when the first round of
interviews began in 1979; they will be ages 55 to 62 as of December 31,
2019. The NLSY79 was conducted annually from 1979 to 1994 and has been
conducted biennially since 1994. The longitudinal focus of this survey
requires information to be collected from the same individuals over
many years in order to trace their education, training, work
experience, fertility, income, and program participation.
In addition to the main NLSY79, the biological children of female
NLSY79 respondents have been surveyed since 1986. A battery of child
cognitive, socio-emotional, and physiological assessments was
administered biennially from 1986 until 2012 to NLSY79 mothers and
their children. Starting in 1994, children who had reached age 15 by
December 31 of the survey year (the Young Adults) were interviewed
about their work experiences, training, schooling, health, fertility,
self-esteem, and other topics. Funding for the NLSY79 Child and Young
Adult surveys is provided by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development through an interagency
agreement with the BLS and through a grant awarded to researchers at
the Ohio State University Center for Human Resource Research (CHRR).
The interagency agreement funds data collection for children and young
adults up to age 24. The grant funds data collection for young adults
age 25 and older.
One of the goals of the Department of Labor (DOL) is to produce and
disseminate timely, accurate, and relevant information about the U.S.
labor force. The BLS contributes to this goal by gathering information
about the labor force and labor market and disseminating it to
policymakers and the public so that participants in those markets can
make more informed, and thus more efficient, choices. Research based on
the NLSY79 contributes to the formation of national policy in the areas
of education, training, employment programs, school-to-work
transitions, and preparations for retirement. In addition to the
reports that the BLS produces based on data from the NLSY79, members of
the academic community publish articles and reports based on NLSY79
data for the DOL and other funding agencies. To date, more than 2,700
articles examining NLSY79 data have been published in scholarly
journals. The survey design provides data gathered from the same
respondents over time to form the only data set that contains this type
of information for this important population group. Without the
collection of these data, an accurate longitudinal data set could not
be provided to researchers and policymakers, thus adversely affecting
the DOL's ability to perform its policy- and report-making activities.
II. Current Action
The BLS seeks approval to conduct Round 29 of the NLSY79 and the
associated surveys of biological children of female NLSY79 respondents.
The Young Adult Survey will be administered to young adults age 12
and older who are the biological children of female NLSY79 respondents.
These young adults will be contacted regardless of whether they reside
with their mothers. Members of the Young Adult grant sample are
contacted for interviews every other round once they reach age 31. The
NLSY79 Young Adult Survey involves interviews with approximately 6,326
young adults ages 12 and older. Of those, 4,555 will be contacted for
interview in Round 29.
During the field period, about 100 main NLSY79 interviews will be
validated to ascertain whether the interview took place as the
interviewer reported and whether the interview was done in a polite and
professional manner.
BLS has undertaken a continuing redesign effort to examine the
current content of the NLSY79 and provide direction for changes that
may be appropriate as the respondents age. The 2020 instrument reflects
a number of changes recommended by experts in various fields of social
science and by our own internal review of the survey's content.
Additions to the questionnaire are accompanied by deletions of previous
questions so that the overall time required to complete the survey
should be lower than in 2018 and comparable to 2016.
The Round 29 questionnaire includes new questions on cognition and
add questions on wealth. Questions that assess the cognitive
functioning of the respondents will be added to Round 29 for all
respondents. The first type ask the respondent to self-rate memory and
change in memory. The next type of questions collect assessments of
memory. These include word recall (both immediate and delayed),
backward counting, and serial subtraction from 100 by 7s. These items
were collected previously from NLSY79 respondents around age 48. Some
new items will be included in this cognition battery that ask the date,
the name of the president, and the name of common items from their
definition. In addition, the assets module that has been asked in odd-
numbered rounds since Round 19 will rotate back into the questionnaire.
Most of the changes made to the Young Adult questionnaire for 2020
have been made to streamline questions and sections in order to cut
down on the amount of time it takes for a respondent to complete an
interview. The Young Adult sample expects to include 459 respondents
ages 12-22 and 4,096 respondents age 23 and older in Round 29.
The questions added to the Young Adult questionnaire expand our
understanding of both physical and mental/emotional health and well-
being such as gender identity and sexual orientation, resiliency,
loneliness and social isolation, self-worth, and social cognition.
III. Desired Focus of Comments
The BLS is particularly interested in comments that:
Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency,
including whether the information will have practical utility.
Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the
validity of the methodology and assumptions used.
Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected.
Minimize the burden of the collection of information on
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting
electronic submissions of responses.
Title of Collection: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979.
OMB Number: 1220-0109.
Type of Review: Revision, with change, of a previously approved
collection.
Affected Public: Individuals or households.
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Average time Estimated
Form Total Frequency Total per response total burden
respondents responses (minutes) (hours)
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NLSY79 Round 29 Main Survey... 6,750 Biennially...... 6,750 70 7,875
Round 29 Validation Interviews 100 Biennially...... 100 6 10
Young Adult Survey (Ages 12 to 6 Biennially...... 6 50 5
13).
Young Adult Survey (Ages 14 to 95 Biennially...... 95 66 105
18, no children).
Young Adult Survey (Ages 14 to 4 Biennially...... 4 86 6
18, has children).
Young Adult Survey (Ages 19 to 329 Biennially...... 329 63 345
22, no children).
Young Adult Survey (Ages 19 to 25 Biennially...... 25 83 35
22, has children).
Young Adult Survey, Grant 964 Biennially...... 964 60 964
component (Age 23 to 28, no
children), interview.
Young Adult Survey, Grant 338 Biennially...... 338 80 451
component (Age 23 to 28, has
children), interview.
Young Adult Survey, Grant 1,258 Biennially...... 1,258 70 1,468
component (Age 29 and older,
no children), interview.
Young Adult Survey, Grant 1,536 Biennially...... 1,536 90 2,304
component (Age 29 and older,
has children), interview.
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Totals \1\................ 11,305 ................ 11,405 .............. 13,568
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\1\ The total number of 11,305 respondents across all the survey instruments is a mutually exclusive count that
does not include the 100 reinterview respondents, who were previously counted among the main and young adult
survey respondents.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget
approval of the information collection request; they also will become a
matter of public record.
Signed at Washington, DC, on December 19, 2019.
Mark Staniorski,
Chief, Division of Management Systems.
[FR Doc. 2019-27950 Filed 12-26-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-P