Understanding Society User Support

Hi,

I am using the last four waves of the BHPS data (o p q and r) for panel data analysis on Stata. I am mostly using the indresp and hhresp files, but I also want to be able to construct a variable for labour market experience (years in employment since leaving education). I only need a simple measure of time in the labour force, not any further details such as occupation or reason for the time out of the labour market.
I have access to the jobhist files and the combined work-life history files but I am relatively new to using both Stata and the BHPS data so I am unsure as to what would be the simplest way for me to construct a variable for labour market experience and merge it into my panel. If anyone could advise me on a method to follow or direct me to somewhere that could help (or where this query may be more suited) then I would be extremely grateful.

Thank you,

John