[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 236 (Thursday, December 8, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76764-76766]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-31525]


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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 
with 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. The 
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments concerning the 
proposed reinstatement of the ``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 6, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Nora Kincaid, 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: Nora Kincaid, 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 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 47 to 56 when the planned twenty-fifth round of interviews is 
conducted in 2012 and 2013. 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 has been 
administered biennially since 1986 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 
20. The grant funds data collection for young adults age 21 and older. 
The BLS contracts with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at 
the University of Chicago to conduct the NLSY79 and associated Child 
and Young Adult surveys.
    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, and school-to-work 
transitions. 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 1,800 articles examining

[[Page 76765]]

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 25 of the NLSY79 and the 
associated surveys of biological children of female NLSY79 respondents. 
The NLSY79 Child Survey involves three components:
     The Mother Supplement is administered to female NLSY79 
respondents who live with biological children under age 15. This 
questionnaire will be administered to about 560 women, who will be 
asked a series of questions about each child under age 15. On average, 
these women each have 1.12 children under age 15, for a total of 
approximately 630 children.
     The Child Supplement involves aptitude testing of about 
615 children under age 15.
     The Child Self-Administered Questionnaire is administered 
to approximately 490 children ages 10 to 14.
    The Young Adult Survey will be administered to young adults age 15 
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 sample are contacted for 
interviews every other round once they reach age 30. The NLSY79 Young 
Adult Survey involves two components:
     Interviews with approximately 1,390 young adults ages 15 
to 20.
     Interviews with approximately 4,530 young adults age 21 
and older.
    During the field period, about 200 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.
    The round 25 questionnaire reflects a number of content changes 
recommended by experts in various social science fields. The round 25 
main NLSY79 questionnaire introduces three new questions on childhood 
health and four new questions on childhood adversity to be asked of all 
respondents at the end of the health section. The questions on 
childhood health ask respondents for an overall rating of their 
childhood health and whether they had significant hospitalizations or 
illnesses as children. The rationale for including these questions is 
that early-childhood health experiences may help to predict adult 
health outcomes. The four questions on childhood adversity ask 
respondents whether they were raised in environments characterized by 
mental illness, alcoholism, physical violence, and parental affection. 
These questions have been found in other surveys to predict obesity and 
other adult health outcomes. The round 25 questionnaire includes a set 
of eight questions designed to identify respondents who have 
experienced a serious head injury or suffered a loss of smell. 
Traumatic head injury and loss of smell have been linked to subsequent 
dementia, and these questions will augment other measures of cognitive 
functioning already collected in the NLSY79. The round 25 questionnaire 
includes new questions on wills, trusts, and long-term care insurance. 
Round 25 includes questions on financial literacy and practices, which 
ask respondents about their preparedness for financial emergencies, 
their ability to monitor financial matters, and their knowledge of 
financial concepts. Round 25 also includes questions about assets, 
which have been asked in several previous rounds of the NLSY79, most 
recently in round 23.

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.
    Type of Review: Reinstatement, with change, of a previously 
approved collection for which approval has expired.
    Agency: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    Title: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979.
    OMB Number: 1220-0109.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.

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                                                                                   Average time      Estimated
             Form                   Total          Frequency           Total       per response    total burden
                                 respondents                         responses     (in minutes)    (in minutes)
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NLSY79 Round 25 Pretest......             100  Biennially.......             100              60             100
NLSY79 Round 25 Main Survey..           7,550  Biennially.......           7,550              60           7,550
Round 25 Validation                       200  Biennially.......             200               6              20
 Interviews.
Mother Supplement............         \1\ 560  Biennially.......             630              20             210
(Mothers of children under
 age 15).
Child Supplement.............             615  Biennially.......             615              31             318
(Under age 15)...............
Child Self-Administered                   490  Biennially.......             490              30             245
 Questionnaire.
(Ages 10 to 14)..............
Young Adult Survey...........           1,390  Biennially.......           1,390              51           1,182
(Ages 15 to 20)..............
Young Adult Survey, Grant               4,530  Biennially.......           4,530              56           4,228
 component.
(Age 21 and older)...........
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[[Page 76766]]

 
    Totals \2\...............          14,185  .................          15,505  ..............          13,853
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\1\ The number of respondents for the Mother Supplement (560) is less than the number of responses (630) because
  mothers are asked to provide separate responses for each of the biological children with whom they reside. The
  total number of responses for the Mother Supplement (630) is more than the number for the Child Supplement
  (615) because the number of children completing the Child Supplement is lower due to age restrictions and
  nonresponse.
\2\ The total number of 14,185 respondents across all the survey instruments is a mutually exclusive count that
  does not include: (1) the 200 reinterview respondents, who were previously counted among the 7,550 main survey
  respondents, (2) the 560 Mother Supplement respondents, who were previously counted among the main survey
  respondents, and (3) the 490 Child SAQ respondents, who were previously counted among the 615 Child Supplement
  respondents.

    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $0.
    Total Burden Cost (operating/maintenance): $0.
    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 this 5th day of December 2011.
Kimberley D. Hill,
Chief, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[FR Doc. 2011-31525 Filed 12-7-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-P