• Component Description
• Eligible Sample
• Interview Setting and Mode of Administration
• Quality Assurance & Quality Control
• Data Processing and Editing
• Analytic Notes
• Codebook
  • SEQN - Respondent sequence number
  • OCD150 - Type of work done last week
  • OCQ180 - Hours worked last week at all jobs
  • OCQ210 - Usually work 35 or more hours per week
  • OCQ260 - Description of job/work situation
  • OCD270 - Number of months working in the main job
  • OCQ670 - Overall work schedule past 3 months
  • OCQ380 - Main reason did not work last week
  • OCD390G - Kind of work you have done the longest
  • OCD395 - Duration of longest job (months)

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

2017-2018 Data Documentation, Codebook, and Frequencies

Occupation (OCQ_J)

Data File: OCQ_J.xpt

First Published: February 2020

Last Revised: NA

Component Description

The Occupation Questionnaire (variable name prefix OCQ) section (questions OCD150 to OCQ670), which is part of the household interview, contains survey participant interview data on employment and variables relating to the work environment.

OCQ section Topics:

• Data for survey participant’s current job (OCQ180-OCD270): weekly hours worked, public vs. private sector, and duration of employment;
• Data for survey participant’s work schedule during the past three months (OCQ670); and
• Data for the survey participant’s longest job (OCD390G and OCD395): kind of work done longest and duration of longest job.

Eligible Sample

The OCQ was administered to a full sample of survey participants aged 16 years and older.

Interview Setting and Mode of Administration

These questions were asked, in the home, during the household interview, by trained interviewers using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) system. Persons 16 years of age were interviewed directly.

Quality Assurance & Quality Control

The CAPI system is programmed with built-in consistency checks to reduce data entry errors. CAPI also uses online help screens to assist interviewers in defining key terms used in the questionnaire. During the 2017-2018 data collection cycle, periodic QC checks were performed on the OCQ data being collected; and interviewer-specific feedback and retraining was performed as appropriate.

Data Processing and Editing

Questionnaire interview responses were entered into a tablet and then uploaded into a computerized database in the same manner as other sections of the Survey Participant Questionnaire. The data were then edited for completeness, consistency, and illogical values.

To decrease the risk of disclosure, additional “bottom” and “top” summary codes were implemented for three variables in 2017-2018:

• OCQ180 (hours worked last week): Range of values: 5-80+ hours;
• OCD270 (Number of months working in the main job): Range of values: 0-480+ months; and
• OCD395 (Duration of longest job): Range of values: 5-600+ months.

Analytic Notes

In general, analysts are advised to review carefully the question wording in the OCQ codebook to make sure they understand question skip patterns and the definitions employed for occupation-related variables. Some OCQ questions need to be considered as an integral part of data collection for other questionnaire sections, and exam or laboratory components.

Please note that military occupations are not permissible entries for NHANES current job data because for NHANES, only the civilian, non-institutionalized population is eligible to participate in the survey. However, civilian employees of the armed forces are included in the NHANES sample and military occupations are valid entries for the survey participant’s longest job data.

Current Job Information:

The primary focus of the OCQ is data collection for the participant’s work within the previous week (i.e., the participant’s Current Job). The participant’s Current Job is defined as the main paid job worked within the last week, including work on a family farm. When an individual currently worked multiple jobs, the participant was asked to designate one main job for the interview. Data collected included:

• The number of hours worked last week;
• Whether the participant usually works 35 or more hours/week;
• Sector of employment (private, public);
• Number of months worked on the current, main job; and
• The main reason the participant did not work last week (if not currently working).

Longest Job Information:

• Kind of work done longest; and
• Duration of longest held job.
  

Related NHANES 2017-18 Data:

There are occupation-related items in the NHANES Physical Functioning Questionnaire (PFQ) (PFQ049 and PFQ051) and two questions on veteran's status/military service in the Survey Participant Demographics (DEMO) data file (DMQMILIZ and DMQADFC).

The OCQ data were collected as part of the household questionnaire and, therefore, the full sample NHANES interview weights WTINT2YR should be used for statistical analysis. However, if the OCQ data are merged with the MEC exam or laboratory data, then the NHANES examination sample weights WTMEC2YR should be used for analyses.

Please refer to the NHANES Analytic Guidelines and the on-line NHANES Tutorial for further details on the use of sample weights and other analytic issues.

Codebook and Frequencies