Proposed Revision of Information Collection; National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979

Since 1979, the federal government has followed the same group of Americans through school, jobs, family life and now retirement. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) wants to check in with them one more time between regular rounds.

The study is the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, or NLSY79. It follows people born from 1957 to 1964 who lived in the U.S. in 1978. They were 14 to 22 when interviews began; as of the end of 2025 they were 61 to 68. More than 3,000 journal articles have used the data.

The plan: an interim survey from April to July 2027, between rounds 31 and 32. It would have about 51 questions and take about 17 minutes. Topics include work, use of time, artificial intelligence use, health, mental health, income and earnings. About one-third of people would answer online and the rest by phone.

Connected beyond the pavement.Streaming and calls for gravel roads, ranch gates, and small-town main streets.CHECK AVAILABILITYSponsored

By the numbers — Interim survey: 4,500 respondents, 1,275 burden hours. Validation call-backs (June 2027): 90 respondents, 3 hours. Total: 1,278 hours.

Comments are due November 30, 2026. Send them by email to Nora Kincaid, BLS Clearance Officer, who can also be reached at 202-691-7268. The collection is OMB Number 1220-0109.

Federal Register filing: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/09/29/2026-19835/proposed-revision-of-information-collection-national-longitudinal-survey-of-youth-1979

This is a Notice Nearby publisher-desk Federal brief — a short in-house summary of a public federal filing. It is not official agency minutes, not a newspaper story, and not Legal Publication. It does not satisfy a statutory notice requirement.