[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 82 (Thursday, April 29, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23124-23126]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-10726]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Bureau of Labor Statistics


Proposed Collection, Comment Request

ACTION: Notice.

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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 
an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing collections of 
information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. 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. Currently, the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments concerning the proposed 
reinstatement, with change, of the ``National Longitudinal Survey of 
Youth 79.'' A copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) 
can be obtained by contacting the individual listed below 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 June 28, 1999 The Bureau of Labor 
Statistics is particularly interested in comments which:
     Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the function of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
     Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
burden of the

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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; and
     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.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Karin G. Kruz, BLS Clearance Officer, 
Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 3255, 
2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20212. Ms. Kruz can be 
reached on 202-606-7628 (this is not a toll free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Conducted since 1979, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 79 
(NLSY79) consists of a nationally representative sample of individuals 
who were ages 14 to 21 in 1979. The cohort members were interviewed 
annually from 1979 to 1994. After the 1994 interview, the survey was 
moved to a biennial cycle.
    The data collected in the NLSY79 will contribute to the knowledge 
about labor market processes involved in transitions between jobs, job 
searches, and hierarchies within jobs. Survey data will contribute to 
the knowledge about individuals' ability to succeed in the job market 
and how levels of success relate to educational attainment, vocational 
training, prior occupational experiences, and general and job-specific 
experiences.
    The NLSY79 research contributes to the formation of national policy 
in the areas of education, training and employment programs, and 
unemployment compensation. In addition, members of the academic 
community publish articles and reports based on these NLSY79 data for 
the Department of Labor (DOL) and other funding agencies. The DOL uses 
the changes measured in the labor market to design programs that would 
ease employment and unemployment problems. The survey design provides 
data gathered over time to form the only data set that contains this 
information. Without the collection of these data, an accurate 
longitudinal data set could not be provided to researchers and policy-
makers, and the DOL could not perform its policy- and report-making 
activities, as described above.

II. Current Actions

    This proposed collection covers wave 19 of this longitudinal study 
of individuals who were age 14 through 21 on December 31, 1978. The DOL 
will interview these youths in the year 2000 to study how young adults 
make the transition from full-time schooling through the establishment 
of their families and careers, and into the prime earning years that 
precede retirement. The longitudinal focus of this survey requires the 
collection of information on the same individuals over many years in 
order to trace their education, training, work experience, fertility, 
income and program participation. This detail makes the NLSY79 a unique 
national resource, unmatched by existing programs. Participation in the 
survey by other government agencies is encouraged as the omnibus nature 
of the survey makes it an efficient, low-cost data set. Recent rounds 
of the survey increasingly incorporate items needed for program and 
policy purposes by agencies other than the DOL.
    Information about the aptitudes of the children of the female 
respondents in the youth data set will be collected. For the most part, 
this is a repetition of instruments already administered biennially to 
these children in 1986. This will permit medical and social science 
researchers to uniquely consider a large number of basic research 
issues relating to the associations between family background, federal 
program activities, infant and maternal health and outcomes from early 
childhood through adolescence. Thus, while the principal focus of the 
survey remains the collection of data for labor force analysis, the 
questionnaires administered to these children include items needed by 
other agencies that are not always directly related to employment and 
training studies. However, as these children reach adolescence the 
focus of the surveys on these ``young adults'' returns to the school-
to-work transition.
    The specific objectives of the study are to:
    (1) Explore the early labor market activity and family formation of 
individuals in this age group;
    (2) Explore in greater depth than has until now been possible the 
complex economic, social, and psychological factors responsible for 
variation in the labor market experience of this cohort;
    (3) Analyze the impact of a changing socio-economic environment on 
the educational and labor market experiences of this cohort by 
comparing data from the present study with those yielded by the surveys 
of the earlier NLS cohorts of young men (1966) and young women (1968) 
as well as the NLS cohort of young men and women interviewed for the 
first time in 1997;
    (4) Consider how employment-related activities of women impact the 
subsequent cognitive and emotional development of their children; and
    (5) Meet the data collection and research needs of various 
government agencies that have been interested in the relationships 
between child and maternal health, other child outcomes, drug and 
alcohol use, juvenile deviant behavior and education, employment, and 
family experiences.
    Type of Review: Reinstatement, with change, of a previously 
approved collection.
    Agency: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    Title: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 79.
    OMB Number: 1220-0109.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Frequency: Biennially.

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                                                                                                        Total
                                                          Total number  Total annual     Average      estimated
                          Form                                 of         responses    minutes per     annual
                                                           respondents                  response    burden hours
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Pretest.................................................            50            50            60            50
Young Adults............................................         8,300         8,300            60         8,300
Reinterview.............................................         1,250         1,250             6           125
Children of Female Respondents..........................         6,390         6,390            52         5,538
                                                         -------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............................................        15,990        15,990  ............        14,013
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    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $0.
    Total Burden Cost (operating/maintenance): $0.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or

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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, D.C., this 23rd day of April 1999.
W. Stuart Rust, Jr.,
Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[FR Doc. 99-10726 Filed 4-28-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-M