Key points
- Occupation and industry are related, but different. Collect BOTH.
- Collect free text descriptions; do not use drop down lists – limiting the response options also limits what we can learn.
- Collect detailed information. "Engineer" is okay, "Civil Engineer" is better.
- Each occupation and each industry has a standard and specific numeric code. The data need to be coded before you can analyze them.
The importance of the data
Information about a person's work is helpful for public health experts:
- It's often collected on case reports and health surveys to consider all the factors that may make a person sick.
- It helps determine if hazards, injuries, or illnesses are higher in certain occupations or industries.
Collect occupation AND industry
Occupation and industry are related, but distinct variables
Occupation is a person's job.
People in the same job have similar training and perform a similar set of tasks. They may also have similar workplace exposures.
Examples of occupations include registered nurse, janitor, cashier, and auto mechanic.
Industry is the type of business in which a person works
It is the kind of business of the employer, or what the employer does. It is not the company name or the name of the employer.
Company names should not be used when recording industry because:
- companies may include several industries (e.g., aircraft engine parts and household appliance manufacturing), and
- the company name may not be unique.
Examples of industries include general hospital, elementary school, clothing manufacturing, and restaurant.
Why it's important to collect both
The same occupation may be found in a variety of industries, and each industry includes people employed in a variety of occupations.
Just as each occupation may have its own characteristic hazards, each industry may have different situations that could put an employee at risk for different work-related conditions.
For example, a nurse working in an elementary school has very different workplace exposures than a nurse working at a hospital. Same occupation, different industries.
How information is collected
Collect occupation and industry data as free text descriptions. This is better than having survey respondents or patients choose from a drop-down menu or similar list of options.
We do not recommend you use drop-down lists for several reasons:
- Categories may be too broad to be useful.
- You can't get detailed job information.
- You can't capture new occupations or industries.
- Other jobs not listed could be linked to an illness, especially an illness that is emerging.
Example questions for a survey
This is what your occupation and industry questions may look like on your form:
Occupation
What kind of work do you do? Or what is your job title?
Response: __________________[Description of work]_____________________
Industry
What kind of business or industry do you work in? Or what does your employer make or do?
Response: ____________[Description of kind of business]_______________
Other sources of work-related information
In addition to collecting occupation and industry data, work-related information can often be found in birth and death certificates, cancer registries, workers' compensation systems, healthcare records, health surveys, or federal surveys.
Data quality
Ensure the data are useful
The more detailed the occupation and industry information is, the more public health professionals can learn about hazards and health outcomes among certain jobs and types of businesses.
Learn more about good data collection in our short training video.
Tips for collecting good data
Write "never employed" if a person has never had a paying job
If a person was never employed, write "never employed" in both the occupation and industry fields.
Do not enter "retired" or "disabled"
- If a person is retired, they had a job at some point. Record the longest-held occupation and industry. Or, if you are collecting information that relates to a short-term illness or traumatic injury, record the current job if they have one or their most recent job if they are unemployed.
- People who have a disability work or had a job before the disability. If having a disability prevented them from ever having a job, enter "Never Worked" in both the occupation and industry fields.
Get detailed information
Be specific. General terms usually don't provide enough information to translate the free text to a standard code.
Here are a few examples of general versus specific terms:
Occupation
Instead of "worked in a warehouse," ask what kind of work? For example, it is better to record "forklift operator."
Instead of "teacher," ask, "what kind of teacher?" For example, it is better to record "preschool teacher" or "high school teacher."
Industry
Instead of "manufacturing," ask what kind of manufacturing? For example, it is better to record "automobile parts manufacturing."
Instead of "food industry," ask what part of the food industry? For example, it is better to record "restaurant" or "grocery store."
Avoid common errors
- Spell information correctly when it's being collected. Spelling errors result in misinterpretation and are more likely to cause errors during the autocoding process (see the Coding page to learn more about autocoding).
- Do not enter any punctuation marks or special characters, including: #{[ ( )^><%@~`. ,$&*-_" //|+=!?:;'
- Do not abbreviate a person's response, even if you think it's a well-known abbreviation or acronym. Spell out each word.
- Enter "unknown" or "declined to answer" in the occupation and/or industry fields if a respondent doesn't know or doesn't want to provide their occupation or industry. Do not enter a period (.) or leave a blank space.
Frequently asked questions
It's best to get a complete work history on every person, but it's usually not possible. If you can only collect information on one job, think about the purpose of your study.
Are you studying acute or chronic conditions?
Acute conditions
Acute conditions come on quickly and need urgent care. If studying an injury or highly contagious disease, ask for current occupation and industry.
Current occupation is the job that the person has been doing most recently. A job may be paid or unpaid (e.g., a volunteer position).
Check out this page for more resources related to current occupation and industry data collection.
Chronic conditions
Chronic conditions can take a long time to develop and may not go away. If studying cancer or another chronic disease, ask for usual occupation and industry.
Usual occupation refers to the longest-held job. This is not necessarily the current, highest paid, or most prestigious job.
Check out this page for more resources related to usual occupation and industry data collection.
Ideally, you’d want to collect information on each job. This also includes any volunteer work. If you can only choose one, list the job they work the most hours at each week.
Example:
A man currently works 20 hours a week as a waiter in a restaurant and 15 hours a week as a clerk at a gas station.
- Document information on each job separately:
- Occupation = waiter; Industry = restaurant
- Occupation = clerk; Industry = gas station
- Occupation = waiter; Industry = restaurant
- If you can only collect information on one job, list waiter as his occupation, and restaurant as his industry because he works as a waiter most often.
Usual occupation refers to the longest-held job. This is not necessarily the current, highest paid, or most prestigious job.
Example:
A woman worked as a cook at a fast-food restaurant for 5 years. Later, she worked as a secretary for a car dealership for 25 years. Then, she worked as a care assistant at a retirement home for 10 years.
Though she had three long-term jobs, she worked the longest as a secretary. For usual occupation and industry, you would list:
- Occupation: secretary
- Industry: car dealership
In most studies of working populations, it is important to collect work information on everyone ages 16 years and older. However, it is possible to study workers younger than 16, so consider adjusting the age range for your study based on the purpose of your study.
Employment status speaks to whether a person currently has a paid job. It is useful to ask about employment status when collecting information for current occupation and industry. It is not necessary when collecting usual (longest-held) occupation and industry.
What to do after you collect data
Free text must be converted to standard numeric codes, using a standard classification system.
Converting text to numeric code is known as occupation and industry coding. This process is most often done electronically, rather than by hand. Automated coding is more efficient and less likely to introduce random bias into coding. NIOSH offers tools to code data electronically.