Hello Stata community;

I have this dataset:
Code:
* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input int year str3 period float unemploymentrate
2005 "Jan" 5.2
2005 "Feb" 5.2
2005 "Mar" 5.1
2005 "Apr" 5.1
2005 "May"   5
2005 "Jun" 4.9
2005 "Jul" 4.9
2005 "Aug" 4.9
2005 "Sep" 4.9
2005 "Oct" 4.9
2005 "Nov" 4.9
2005 "Dec" 4.8
2006 "Jan" 4.8
2006 "Feb" 4.7
2006 "Mar" 4.7
2006 "Apr" 4.7
2006 "May" 4.7
2006 "Jun" 4.8
2006 "Jul" 4.8
2006 "Aug" 4.8
2006 "Sep" 4.7
2006 "Oct" 4.7
2006 "Nov" 4.6
2006 "Dec" 4.5
2007 "Jan" 4.4
2007 "Feb" 4.4
2007 "Mar" 4.4
2007 "Apr" 4.4
2007 "May" 4.4
2007 "Jun" 4.5
2007 "Jul" 4.5
2007 "Aug" 4.6
2007 "Sep" 4.7
2007 "Oct" 4.8
2007 "Nov" 4.8
2007 "Dec" 4.8
2008 "Jan" 4.8
2008 "Feb" 4.8
2008 "Mar" 4.9
2008 "Apr" 4.9
2008 "May"   5
2008 "Jun" 5.1
2008 "Jul" 5.2
2008 "Aug" 5.4
2008 "Sep" 5.5
2008 "Oct" 5.8
2008 "Nov" 6.2
2008 "Dec" 6.6
2009 "Jan"   7
2009 "Feb" 7.4
2009 "Mar" 7.7
2009 "Apr"   8
2009 "May" 8.1
2009 "Jun" 8.2
2009 "Jul" 8.2
2009 "Aug" 8.2
2009 "Sep" 8.2
2009 "Oct" 8.2
2009 "Nov" 8.2
2009 "Dec" 8.3
2010 "Jan" 8.4
2010 "Feb" 8.5
2010 "Mar" 8.5
2010 "Apr" 8.4
2010 "May" 8.3
2010 "Jun" 8.1
2010 "Jul"   8
2010 "Aug"   8
2010 "Sep"   8
2010 "Oct"   8
2010 "Nov" 7.9
2010 "Dec" 7.9
2011 "Jan" 7.8
2011 "Feb" 7.7
2011 "Mar" 7.6
2011 "Apr" 7.6
2011 "May" 7.7
2011 "Jun" 7.8
2011 "Jul" 7.8
2011 "Aug" 7.9
2011 "Sep" 7.9
2011 "Oct" 7.8
2011 "Nov" 7.7
2011 "Dec" 7.6
2012 "Jan" 7.5
2012 "Feb" 7.5
2012 "Mar" 7.5
2012 "Apr" 7.6
2012 "May" 7.7
2012 "Jun" 7.7
2012 "Jul" 7.8
2012 "Aug" 7.8
2012 "Sep" 7.7
2012 "Oct" 7.7
2012 "Nov" 7.7
2012 "Dec" 7.7
2013 "Jan" 7.6
2013 "Feb" 7.5
2013 "Mar" 7.4
2013 "Apr" 7.3
end
My goal is to "combine" (if you wanna say so), is to combine the two time variables (year & period) into one time variable (we could call it date) which shows the month and the year as a one variable, rather than two variables separated.

I would love to have this variable as a numeric variable 'or even a numeric-time variable) so when I apply the "tsset" command on it, it doesn't show that my variable is a string one and that a "tsset" command can'b be applied. At the end, my goal is to draw a time-line graph with the "unemployment" as a Y variable.

I hope I could get some help, thanks very much.