Occupation is a characteristic of an individual's job and hence varies over time. There are occupation values reported for (potentially) two jobs in each wave of the survey. Occupation is chosen by summing earnings associated with the array of variables ws1occ1-ws1occ{max number of waves} and ws2occ1-ws2occ{max number of waves} in the 1984, 1990-1993 panels, and tjbocc1_1-tjbocc1_{max number of waves) and tjbocc2_1-tjbocc2_{max number of waves} in the 1996-2008 panels and choosing the occupation associated with the greatest total earnings. Thus occupation is the occupation from which greatest earnings are derived in the survey.

1	Management
2	Business and financial operations
3	Business and financial operations
4	Architecture and engineering
5	Life, physical, and social science
6	Community and social service
7	Legal
8	Education, training, and libraries
9	Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media
10	Healthcare practitioner and technical
11	Healthcare support
12	Protective service
13	Food prep and service
14	Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance
15	Personal care and service
16	Sales
17	Office and administrative support
18	Farming, fishing, and forestry
19	Construction and extraction
20	Installation, maintenance, and repairs
21	Production
22	Transportation
23	Material moving
24	Military