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Bureau of Labor Statistics Report to the Appropriations Committees on a

New Cohort to the National Longitudinal Surveys 

March 2023 

Progress Report and Updated Plan for Design (Fiscal Years 2021 to 2025) 

The following report provides an update on Bureau of Labor Statistics’ investment into the 

planning, development, and implementation of a new National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 

(NLSY) cohort, in response to the Statement of Managers accompanying the Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2023 (Pub.L. 117-328). The referenced Joint Explanatory Statement 

directed the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) as follows: 

BLS shall complete all necessary work in fiscal year 2023 for the new cohort that was

outlined in its five-year plan and shall not use any allocated resources for NLSY in 

this agreement for any other purpose. Further, BLS is directed to support the 

continued fielding of the NLSY79 and NLSY97 cohorts and shall refrain from 

implementing any reductions to either survey.

Within 90 days of enactment of this Act, BLS shall brief the Committees on its plans 

for executing these directives and carrying out its implementation of the new NLSY 

cohort five-year plan without delay. 

This report provides information on the actions BLS has taken to carry out elements of its plan in 

FY 2021, FY 2022, and early FY 2023, and it outlines the work planned for the remainder of FY 

2023. Based on the lessons learned during implementation to date, this report presents revisions 

to the prior five-year plan and briefly discusses the work to be done in the first years of data 

collection (FY 2026 and FY 2027). Background on the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS) 

and overall approach to planning and development can be found in the previous reports.0F

1

 

FY 2023 Plans for NLSY79 and NLSY97 Cohorts

In FY 2023, BLS will continue data collection of round 30 of the NLSY79 as well as begin data 

collection of round 21 of the NLSY97. BLS also will engage in the necessary contracting 

activities to support the subsequent rounds for each cohort. 

New Cohort Activities between FY 2021 and FY 2023 Quarters 1 and 2

NLS has conducted extensive planning and consultation activities with its stakeholders and 

expert advisors to maximize the value of the new cohort to data users and ensure that it employs 

modern best practices in producing it. These preparations began in FY 2020 as NLS consulted 

with members of the NLS Technical Review Committee and conducted a review of other large 

1 The 2020 report can be found at https://www.bls.gov/bls/congressional-reports/report-to-the-appropriationscommittees-on-a-new-cohort-to-the-national-longitudinal-surveys.pdf and the 2021 report is at 

https://www.bls.gov/bls/congressional-reports/bls-report-to-congress-on-a-new-cohort-to-the-national-longitudinalsurveys-march-2021.pdf 
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scale, longitudinal social surveys that launched significant redesign efforts or new waves in the 

last 15 years. This work continued in FY 2021 and FY 2022 according to the 5-year plan. 

Below is a summary and high-level timeline of the major activities that NLS has undertaken thus 

far. 

CHRR at The Ohio State University/National Science Foundation New Cohort Conference (FY 

2021 Quarters 1 and 2) 

In October 2020, CHRR at The Ohio State University, currently NLS’s prime contractor, hosted 

a conference entitled, “Shaping a New National Longitudinal Survey of Youth”. The conference 

brought together academics from many disciplines, leaders from federal agencies, and 

independent researchers to share information about previous achievements of the NLS, identify 

emerging and ongoing needs for studying upcoming workforce generations, and discuss how a 

new cohort could meet those needs. It established a critical foundation of interest in new cohort 

development from which to build stakeholder engagement and provided critical directions for the 

shaping of the new cohort’s content. CHRR documented in a report the proceedings and the 

input received from participants after the event. NLS has used the report as a building block for 

additional stakeholder outreach and as a key reference for the work of its content panels. 

Sample Frame Assessment (FY 2021 Quarters 1 to 3) 

In the first and second quarters, BLS subject matter experts assessed the different sample frames 

available for a new cohort. The NLSY79 and NLSY97 samples were selected by a third-party

vendor, who employed multi-stage, area-based, stratified sampling strategies to select 

households from a register owned by the contractor. For the new cohort, the subject matter 

experts considered whether to independently sample from an address register or to work with 

other federal surveys to leverage their sample frames. The assessment considered several federal 

surveys as initial candidates for the sample frame, including the National Center for Education 

Statistics (NCES) National Household Educational Surveys (NHES) and Census’s Survey of 

Income and Program Participation (SIPP), both on its own and in conjunction with information 

from the Census Bureau’s Master Address File. The assessment also carefully weighed the 

potential efficiencies from working with another federal survey against the potential impacts on 

cost and data quality, including the accessibility of data when working with other federal 

agencies. 

In June 2021, BLS subject matter experts provided a report of their findings and 

recommendations to senior BLS management. The report recommended against the use of 

existing survey sample frames due to uncertainty over feasibility, costs, and data accessibility. 

The subject matter experts also identified concerns with the use of existing survey sample frames 

and potential impacts over the course of the new cohort’s expected life. Instead, the report 

recommended that BLS contract a private research organization to sample and screen for the new 

cohort. 
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User Outreach (FY 2021 Quarter 2 to FY 2023 Quarter 2) 

NLS has used a wide array of methods to conduct outreach to its stakeholders, enabling it to 

anticipate emerging user needs and complement other data sources. One such method has been 

to host webinars and briefings with other federal agencies. Table 1 lists the agencies with which

events have been conducted. 

Table 1

Agency Date of webinar

Department of Justice May 2021

National Center for Educational Statistics June 2021

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health 

and Human Development

June 2021

Department of Health and Human Services June 2021

Environmental Protection Agency July 2022

Department of Housing and Urban Development October 2022

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health January 2023

National Institute on Aging February 2023

In addition to these efforts, BLS posted a Federal Register Notice on March 7, 2022 describing 

several other outreach activities BLS would be conducting to collect input on a new youth cohort 

and requesting comments on the new youth cohort. Through its contractor, NORC at the 

University of Chicago, BLS conducted the following: (1) an on-line survey of the public to be 

accessed through the BLS website that was available from March 23, 2022, to May 3, 2022, with 

responses from 412 people; and (2) a series of listening sessions where subject matter experts 

were invited to provide input on the new youth cohort. The listening sessions were conducted 

from February to March 2022 and covered the following topics: Employment, Jobs, and the 

Future of Work; Child and Family Retrospective Information; Physical Health, Environment, 

and Climate; Mental Health; Innovations in International Surveys; Think Tanks, Research 

Organizations and Non-Profits Use of NLS Data.

Dissemination Assessment (FY 2022 Quarters 1 to 3) 

As it designs the new cohort, NLS also has been evaluating alternatives for data dissemination. 

Potential options include development and maintenance of an in-house dissemination system and 

the use of a contractor-based system. Current NLS cohorts use the latter approach, but this may 

not be optimal for the new cohort. To evaluate the potential use of an in-house dissemination 

system, BLS contracted with Softek to develop a prototype for a system that would continue 

NLS’s established record of providing a high-quality interface to help users access, manage, and 

analyze complex NLS datasets effectively. The prototype was completed, successfully 

establishing a proof-of-concept for a new design that could be maintained on the cloud. BLS 

continues to explore the details of implementing such a system and to consider its costs and 

benefits relative to contractor-based systems.
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Assessment of Alternative Data Sources (FY 2022 Quarters 2 and 3)

BLS contracted with NORC to assess alternative data sources that could be integrated into a new 

NLS cohort to improve the accuracy of survey data collected, reduce respondent burden, or 

expand the scope of the survey’s content. NORC reported on the relevance, accuracy, 

coherence, feasibility, as well as confidentiality, consent requirements, and accessibility of over 

twenty sources. Data for this report were gathered from a scan of publicly available sources, 

including secondary research using these alternative data sources. Based on the assessments in 

the report and NLS staff research, NLS will pursue administrative linkages to other data sources 

to augment data directly collected for the new cohort.

Vendor Capability Assessment (FY 2022 Quarters 3 to 4) 

In June 2022, BLS issued a Request for Information (RFI) to (a) assess vendor capabilities to 

work with NLS in developing a new cohort/survey, and (b) solicit ideas and feedback from 

vendors on how best to do this work in the current regulatory and financial environment. The 

feedback received from vendors has provided important context to advice received from other 

stakeholders and subject matter experts, especially regarding expectations for sample attrition 

and their implications for planning the sample size of the new cohort. 

Content Panels (FY 2022 Quarter 3 to FY 2023 Quarter 3) 

Determining the structure and the content of the data to be collected from the new cohort

requires an extensive, coordinated effort among leading subject matter experts in a wide range of 

disciplines. To perform this vital function, BLS contracted with NORC to convene and manage 

the content panels, including the production of content panel reports. The content panels were 

composed of experts in various subject areas, including federal representatives, to ensure that 

emerging ideas, best practices, and relevant examples were brought forward for consideration for 

the NLSY26 cohort. Experts from four broad content domains were convened with the goal of 

providing the BLS with an assessment of relevant and timely research issues, content and survey 

design recommendations, comparability to prior NLSY cohorts, and potential alternative data 

sources that could widen the scope of the NLSY26 cohort while decreasing respondent burden. 

Each panel produced a final report that summarized their recommendations and provided 

justification for their inclusion on the grounds of scientific value. 

In FY 2022 Q3 and Q4, content panels were convened on four topics: (1) Family Background 

and Early Childhood Retrospectives, (2) K-12 Schooling and Cognition, (3) Health and 

Environmental Outcomes, and (4) Department of Defense Initiatives and Assessments. 

In FY 2023 Q1 to Q3, content panels have been convened on two topics: (1) Employment, 

including Work Arrangements, Job Characteristics, and Early Employment and (2) Criminal 

Activity, Delinquency, Victimization, and Interactions with the Justice System. 
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New Cohort Activities Scheduled for FY 2023 Quarters 2 to 4

Culmination of Market Research (FY 2023 Quarter 2) 

The activities described above have laid a solid groundwork for BLS to describe the work of 

developing and fielding the new cohort in its key, broad dimensions. As an additional step of 

preparations to bid out this work, NLS is working with the DOL Office of the Senior 

Procurement Executive (OSPE) to hold a “Vendor Day,” in March 2023. This will allow for 

greater interaction with potential vendors and discussion of technical questions regarding 

information technology, security, data dissemination and contract structure. Based on the 

information collected from the RFI and Vendor Day, NLS staff will compile a summary of 

findings and recommendations. This will be used as an input for developing the Request for 

Proposal (RFP). 

RFP - Design through Wave 1 collection (FY 2023 Quarter 2 to FY 2023 Quarter 4) 

After feedback received during the Vendor Day, NLS will post a final version of the RFP for 

solicitation, coordinate with OSPE to manage the bidding process, and select a vendor. The new 

contract is expected to be awarded in July 2023. 

Primary Contract Design and Development Work (FY 2023 Quarter 4) 

Development of the systems for the new cohort is expected to begin in earnest once the contract 

is signed. Activities to begin immediately include management functions including the 

development of staffing, communications, and data storage plans and capabilities; initial work on 

content and questionnaire development, sample design, and screening strategies; and 

establishment of a case management system.

Dissemination System Development (FY 2023 Quarter 4)

In addition to and in conjunction with the primary contract, BLS expects to continue its 

evaluation and development of alternatives for disseminating the new cohort’s microdata. A 

next step may be to pilot an application of the prototype developed in FY 2022 in a secure 

cloud setting. Such a pilot would inform additional decisions about the flow of data 

between collection and dissemination systems.

Updated Estimates for Annual Costs

The activities described above are broadly consistent with the five-year plan that BLS previously 

proposed for development of the new NLSY cohort with the exception of awarding a contract for 

survey development, which initially was scheduled for FY 2022 and now is planned for FY 

2023. At this point, R1 data collection is anticipated to begin in September 2026; risks and 

impacts of delays will continue to be evaluated in communication with potential vendors. 

Based on recent trends in response rates across a range of statistical surveys and to address data 

user needs from the new cohort, BLS currently estimates a sample size of 17,000 would be 

needed, compared to previous estimates of 15,000. The increase of 2,000 sample members 
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would allow for the NLSY26 survey to include additional rural sample members and to increase 

the size of the supplemental sample of Black and Hispanic youth to be followed as they make 

educational decisions and through their prime working years. The increased sample size would 

require additional resources to support the full implementation of the new cohort, as noted in the 

table below.

* Estimated costs are based on a sample size of 17,000, an increase of 2,000 from the level used for the 2021 

estimate, and have been updated to 2023 dollars using the Employment Cost Index.

The cost estimates are preliminary and will continue to be refined as FY 2023 contracting and 

the subsequent planning and development activities continue. In addition to reflecting estimated 

cost increases to account for the larger sample size, outyear contractual estimates also are

adjusted using the Employment Cost Index to account for cost increases since the prior report. 

At this time, BLS anticipates that the ongoing annual cost after the first year of collection will be 

about $24 million.

FY Estimated Cost

(2021 Report)

Updated Cost *

(in 2023 dollars)

Major Tasks

2023 $14,500,000 $14,500,000 Complete advisory activities and begin survey 

development (sampling, survey, questionnaire, 

materials, dissemination, and systems work) 

2024 $14,500,000 $14,500,000 Continue survey and systems development, 

sample screening, and pretest preparations 

2025 $17,000,000 $20,500,000 Pretest fielding, survey revisions resulting from 

the pretest, and preparation for round 1 

screening and data collection to occur in 2026 

2026 $27,000,000 $33,000,000 Young adult and parent Round 1 (R1) data 

collections begin 

2027 $20,000,000 $24,000,000 Young adult and parent data R1 collections 

conclude, and data processing begins; young 

adult R2 collection begins