CHRR recently secured two new contracts with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to continue administration of the 1979 and 1997 National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth (NLSY79 and NLSY97). CHRR, an interdisciplinary research center within the College of Arts and Sciences formerly known as the Center for Human Resource Research, develops survey software, designs survey instruments, oversees field work, and generates and disseminates fully documented data sets for researchers in government, private research organizations, and universities around the world.

The contracts, which are worth $38.6 million, will enable data collection for two more rounds of the NLSY97 and one more round of the NLSY79. The National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS) are a set of surveys that collect information on labor market experiences and significant life events of U.S. citizens at multiple points in time. The NLS program, sponsored by the BLS and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), has been housed continuously at CHRR since its inception in 1966.

“CHRR staff are excited to continue work on this vital national research project, which has supported significant research across multiple disciplines including the social sciences, education, public health, nursing and medicine,” said Elizabeth Cooksey, director of CHRR and professor in the Department of Sociology.

Cooksey and former CHRR director and professor emeritus of economics Randall Olsen were also awarded a $50,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. This grant will enable them to host a conference in Washington, D.C., next spring to explore possibilities for development and funding of a new NLS youth cohort.