[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

[[Page 71476]]

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.

[[Page 71477]]



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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.
                               ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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