The Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) System is a United States government system for classifying occupations. It is used by U.S. federal government agencies collecting occupational data, enabling comparison of occupations across data sets. It is designed to cover all occupations in which work is performed for pay or profit, reflecting the current occupational structure in the United States. The 2018 SOC includes 867 detailed occupations. [1]
Users of occupational data include human resources professionals, government program managers, industrial and labor relations practitioners, students considering career training, job seekers, vocational training schools, and employers wishing to set salary scales or locate a new plant.
An occupation is defined as a group of "jobs that are similar with respect to the work performed and the skills possessed by workers." [2] Therefore, different jobs with similar duties and job requirements would be in the same occupation. For example, a bank branch manager and a city treasurer would both be part of the Financial Manager occupation in the SOC.
The detailed occupations in the SOC can be combined into 459 broad occupations, 98 minor groups, and 23 major groups. The SOC codes have a hierarchical format, so for example the code "15-0000" refers to occupations in the "Computer and Mathematical Occupations" major group, and "15-1252" is a subset for the "Software Developers" detailed occupation. [3]
The SOC does not categorize industries or employers. There are parallel category systems for industries used with SOC data, most commonly NAICS.
Other countries have national occupational classification systems and the International Labour Organization, an agency of the United Nations, has developed the International Standard Classification of Occupations. [4]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) maintains the Direct Match Title File (DMTF) that contains job titles that match detailed occupations in the SOC. [5] For example, the following job titles all match to the occupation Bill and Account Collectors (SOC code of 43-3011): Collection Agent, Collections Clerk, Collections Representative, Debt Collector, Installment Agent, Installment Loan Collector, Insurance Collector, Payment Collector, Repossessor, and Billing Clerk.
In some cases a job title does not match one-for-one with an occupation. For example, the job title "painter" is not in the DMTF because it could be associated with a fine arts occupation or a maintenance occupation. In these and other cases, persons wishing to match a job with an occupation can examine the definitions of the detailed occupations. For example, the definition of the occupation of Painters, Construction and Maintenance (SOC code of 47-2141) is: "Paint walls, equipment, buildings, bridges, and other structural surfaces, using brushes, rollers, and spray guns. May remove old paint to prepare surface prior to painting. May mix colors or oils to obtain desired color or consistency." On the other hand, the definition of the occupation of Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators (SOC code of 27-1013) is: "Create original artwork using any of a wide variety of media and techniques."
Interested parties can submit suggested additions to the job titles included in the DMTF. [6]
The detailed occupations in the SOC can be combined into 23 major groups.
Across all occupations, BLS reports total employment to be 151,853,870 and the annual mean wage to be $65,470. Total employment and annual mean wage for each major group is in the following table. [7]
SOC | Major Group | Employment | Annual Mean Wage |
---|---|---|---|
11-0000 | Management Occupations | 10,495,770 | $137,750 |
13-0000 | Business and Financial Operations Occupations | 10,087,830 | $90,580 |
15-0000 | Computer and Mathematical Occupations | 5,177,400 | $113,140 |
17-0000 | Architecture and Engineering Occupations | 2,539,660 | $99,090 |
19-0000 | Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | 1,389,430 | $87,870 |
21-0000 | Community and Social Service Occupations | 2,418,130 | $58,980 |
23-0000 | Legal Occupations | 1,240,630 | $133,820 |
25-0000 | Educational Instruction and Library Occupations | 8,744,560 | $66,400 |
27-0000 | Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations | 2,106,490 | $75,520 |
29-0000 | Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | 9,284,210 | $102,060 |
31-0000 | Healthcare Support Occupations | 7,063,530 | $38,220 |
33-0000 | Protective Service Occupations | 3,504,330 | $57,710 |
35-0000 | Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations | 13,247,870 | $34,490 |
37-0000 | Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations | 4,429,070 | $38,320 |
39-0000 | Personal Care and Service Occupations | 3,040,630 | $38,430 |
41-0000 | Sales and Related Occupations | 13,380,660 | $53,280 |
43-0000 | Office and Administrative Support Occupations | 18,533,450 | $47,940 |
45-0000 | Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations | 432,200 | $39,970 |
47-0000 | Construction and Extraction Occupations | 6,225,630 | $61,500 |
49-0000 | Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations | 5,989,460 | $58,500 |
51-0000 | Production Occupations | 8,770,170 | $47,620 |
53-0000 | Transportation and Material Moving Occupations | 13,752,760 | $46,690 |
Across all occupations, 6.9 percent of all workers are exposed to hazardous contaminants.
Across all occupations, about 67 percent of all workers are not exposed to the outdoors. However, among all workers, 4.1 percent are constantly exposed to the outdoors, 3.7 percent are frequently exposed to the outdoors, 15.1 percent are occasionally exposed to the outdoors, and 10.2 percent are seldomly exposed to the outdoors. Exposure to hazardous contaminants and exposure to the outdoors (seldom, occasional, frequent, or constant) for each major group are in the following table. [8]
SOC | Major Group | Exposure to Hazardous Contaminants (%) | Exposure to Outdoors (%) |
---|---|---|---|
11-0000 | Management Occupations | 1.9 | 23.8 |
13-0000 | Business and Financial Operations Occupations | 0.7 | 9.1 |
15-0000 | Computer and Mathematical Occupations | <0.5 | 1.6 |
17-0000 | Architecture and Engineering Occupations | 6.3 | 31.8 |
19-0000 | Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | 26.6 | 36.3 |
21-0000 | Community and Social Service Occupations | 0.8 | 24.2 |
23-0000 | Legal Occupations | <0.5 | 1.6 |
25-0000 | Educational Instruction and Library Occupations | 1.8 | 42.9 |
27-0000 | Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations | 0.8 | 27.7 |
29-0000 | Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | 6.8 | 7.3 |
31-0000 | Healthcare Support Occupations | 2.8 | 33.1 |
33-0000 | Protective Service Occupations | 22.8 | 89.4 |
35-0000 | Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations | 1.3 | 33.5 |
37-0000 | Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations | 18.4 | 73.8 |
39-0000 | Personal Care and Service Occupations | 9.2 | 51.5 |
41-0000 | Sales and Related Occupations | 1.2 | 28.1 |
43-0000 | Office and Administrative Support Occupations | <0.5 | 4.7 |
45-0000 | Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations | 8.9 | 82.5 |
47-0000 | Construction and Extraction Occupations | 28.9 | 92.4 |
49-0000 | Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations | 31.7 | 79.4 |
51-0000 | Production Occupations | 18.9 | 11.4 |
53-0000 | Transportation and Material Moving Occupations | 5.6 | 57.6 |
Minimum education is the minimum education required by a job, not the educational attainment of the worker. A worker may have attained more education than the minimum required by a job.
Among all workers, 30.0 percent are in jobs with no minimum education requirement, 40.1 percent are in jobs where a high school degree is the minimum requirement, 19.3 percent are in jobs where a bachelor's degree is the minimum requirement, and 10.6 percent are in jobs with some other minimum requirement (for example, a graduate degree).
The percentages in the various minimum requirement categories for each major group in the SOC are shown in the following table. [9]
SOC | Major Group | No Minimum Requirement (%) | High School (%) | Bachelor's (%) | Other (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
11-0000 | Management Occupations | 4.7 | 24.7 | 56.6 | 14.0 |
13-0000 | Business and Financial Operations Occupations | 1.7 | 21.7 | 69.9 | 6.7 |
15-0000 | Computer and Mathematical Occupations | 2.8 | 17.7 | 65.5 | 14.0 |
17-0000 | Architecture and Engineering Occupations | 1.9 | 12.5 | 69.5 | 16.1 |
19-0000 | Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | 2.1 | 18.7 | 52.0 | 27.2 |
21-0000 | Community and Social Service Occupations | 1.6 | 16.5 | 40.9 | 41.0 |
23-0000 | Legal Occupations | 0.6 | 19.4 | 10.9 | 69.1 |
25-0000 | Educational Instruction and Library Occupations | 1.5 | 17.2 | 59.4 | 21.9 |
27-0000 | Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations | 19.8 | 27.7 | 42.9 | 9.6 |
29-0000 | Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | 0.9 | 21.1 | 22.7 | 55.3 |
31-0000 | Healthcare Support Occupations | 26.8 | 63.4 | 0.7 | 9.1 |
33-0000 | Protective Service Occupations | 9.4 | 82.3 | 3.1 | 5.2 |
35-0000 | Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations | 78.3 | 21.2 | <0.5 | <0.5 |
37-0000 | Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations | 68.7 | 30.0 | <0.5 | <0.5 |
39-0000 | Personal Care and Service Occupations | 32.0 | 60.7 | 3.2 | 4.1 |
41-0000 | Sales and Related Occupations | 50.7 | 39.6 | 7.9 | 1.8 |
43-0000 | Office and Administrative Support Occupations | 13.1 | 75.6 | 5.7 | 5.6 |
45-0000 | Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations | 49.4 | 42.6 | 6.2 | 1.8 |
47-0000 | Construction and Extraction Occupations | 49.6 | 47.1 | 0.8 | 2.5 |
49-0000 | Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations | 27.5 | 61.2 | 1.2 | 10.1 |
51-0000 | Production Occupations | 39.2 | 55.5 | 1.5 | 3.8 |
53-0000 | Transportation and Material Moving Occupations | 60.2 | 39.2 | <0.5 | <0.5 |
The maximum weight lifted or carried averaged 25.58 pounds for all workers. For all workers, the percentage of the workday a person is required to stand averaged 56.3 percent of the workday. The figures for each major group in the SOC are in the following table. [10]
SOC | Major Group | Maximum Weight Lifted or Carried, Average (Pounds) | Percent of the Workday Required to Stand, Average (Percentage) |
---|---|---|---|
11-0000 | Management Occupations | 9.30 | 27.4 |
13-0000 | Business and Financial Operations Occupations | 5.55 | 13.2 |
15-0000 | Computer and Mathematical Occupations | 7.87 | 11.1 |
17-0000 | Architecture and Engineering Occupations | 13.11 | 26.4 |
19-0000 | Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | 18.10 | 37.3 |
21-0000 | Community and Social Service Occupations | 10.53 | 29.6 |
23-0000 | Legal Occupations | 6.80 | 15.2 |
25-0000 | Educational Instruction and Library Occupations | 14.61 | 60.2 |
27-0000 | Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations | 14.78 | 32.7 |
29-0000 | Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | 33.06 | 63.3 |
31-0000 | Healthcare Support Occupations | 34.72 | 69.4 |
33-0000 | Protective Service Occupations | 53.71 | 56.8 |
35-0000 | Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations | 26.34 | 97.2 |
37-0000 | Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations | 37.23 | 88.2 |
39-0000 | Personal Care and Service Occupations | 23.70 | 75.7 |
41-0000 | Sales and Related Occupations | 21.68 | 68.6 |
43-0000 | Office and Administrative Support Occupations | 9.13 | 20.6 |
45-0000 | Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations | 35.40 | 77.5 |
47-0000 | Construction and Extraction Occupations | 51.18 | 81.5 |
49-0000 | Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations | 53.93 | 79.6 |
51-0000 | Production Occupations | 37.45 | 81.2 |
53-0000 | Transportation and Material Moving Occupations | 43.74 | 65.2 |
Across all occupations, 38.9 percent of all workers are required to work at a consistent and generally fast pace, 52.9 percent are required to work at a pace that varies, and 8.2 percent at a consistent and generally slow pace.
About 56.2 percent of workers have the ability to “pause work and take short, unscheduled breaks throughout the workday.”
Pace of work and the ability to pause work for each major group are in the following table. [11]
SOC | Major Group | Fast Work Pace (%) | Ability to Pause Work (%) |
---|---|---|---|
11-0000 | Management Occupations | 41.3 | 97.5 |
13-0000 | Business and Financial Operations Occupations | 39.3 | 97.0 |
15-0000 | Computer and Mathematical Occupations | 40.9 | 96.0 |
17-0000 | Architecture and Engineering Occupations | 36.9 | 95.1 |
19-0000 | Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | 34.3 | 82.6 |
21-0000 | Community and Social Service Occupations | 38.0 | 80.3 |
23-0000 | Legal Occupations | 52.3 | 95.3 |
25-0000 | Educational Instruction and Library Occupations | 37.0 | 38.9 |
27-0000 | Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations | 39.4 | 74.3 |
29-0000 | Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | 48.2 | 40.9 |
31-0000 | Healthcare Support Occupations | 38.3 | 37.6 |
33-0000 | Protective Service Occupations | 18.3 | 13.2 |
35-0000 | Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations | 31.0 | 22.6 |
37-0000 | Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations | 41.8 | 73.7 |
39-0000 | Personal Care and Service Occupations | 33.6 | 35.0 |
41-0000 | Sales and Related Occupations | 24.2 | 45.5 |
43-0000 | Office and Administrative Support Occupations | 37.2 | 70.8 |
45-0000 | Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations | 41.6 | 67.3 |
47-0000 | Construction and Extraction Occupations | 46.1 | 61.5 |
49-0000 | Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations | 32.7 | 71.8 |
51-0000 | Production Occupations | 55.8 | 42.5 |
53-0000 | Transportation and Material Moving Occupations | 48.7 | 31.4 |
The SOC was established in 1977, and revised by a committee representing specialists from across U.S. government agencies in the 1990s. [12] SOC codes were updated again in 2010, and on November 28, 2017, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a Federal Register notice detailing the final decisions for the 2018 SOC. [13]
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code – someone with skill in computer programming.
A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors.
The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly survey of about 60,000 U.S. households conducted by the United States Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS uses the data to publish reports early each month called the Employment Situation. This report provides estimates of the unemployment rate and the numbers of employed and unemployed people in the United States based on the CPS. A readable Employment Situation Summary is provided monthly. Annual estimates include employment and unemployment in large metropolitan areas. Researchers can use some CPS microdata to investigate these or other topics.
Groundskeeping is the activity of tending an area of land for aesthetic or functional purposes, typically in an institutional setting. It includes mowing grass, trimming hedges, pulling weeds, planting flowers, etc. The U.S. Department of Labor estimated that more than 900,000 workers are employed in the landscape maintenance and groundskeeping services industry in the United States in 2006. Of these over 300,000 workers were greenskeepers for golf courses, schools, resorts, and public parks.
The Dictionary of Occupational Titles or D-O-T (DOT) refers to a publication produced by the United States Department of Labor which helped employers, government officials, and workforce development professionals to define over 13,000 different types of work, from 1938 to the late 1990s. The DOT was created by job analysts who visited thousands of US worksites to observe and record the various types of work, and what was involved. Innovative at the time, the DOT included information still used today in settling EEO and Workers Comp claims, like the physical abilities required to perform that occupation, and the time and repetitiveness of those physical actions.
The Selected Characteristics of Occupations (SCO) is a companion volume to the U.S. Department of Labor's Dictionary of Occupational Titles, Revised Fourth Edition, published in 1991. These volumes were intended to provide a detailed representation of thousands of individual occupations in the United States, for the purpose of occupational information, occupational exploration, and job placement.
The Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) is a publication of the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics that includes information about the nature of work, working conditions, training and education, earnings and job outlook for hundreds of different occupations in the United States. It is released biennially with a companion publication, the Career Guide to Industries and is available free of charge from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' website. The 2012–13 edition was released in November 2012 and the 2014–15 edition in March 2014.
Transferable skills analysis is a set of tests or logic to determine what positions a person may fill if their previous position(s) no longer exists in the local job market, or they can no longer perform their last position(s). An informal transferable skills analysis can be performed with the help of a career counselor, career portfolio or a career planning article or book. Transferable skills are determined by analyzing past accomplishments or experience. For instance, a stay-at-home parent and homemaker might find they have skills in budgeting, child development, food services, property management, and so on.
A roofer, roof mechanic, or roofing contractor is a tradesperson who specializes in roof construction. Roofers replace, repair, and install the roofs of buildings, using a variety of materials, including shingles, bitumen, and metal. Roofing work includes the hoisting, storage, application, and removal of roofing materials and equipment, including related insulation, sheet metal, vapor barrier work, and green technologies rooftop jobs such as vegetative roofs, rainwater harvesting systems, and photovoltaic products, such as solar shingles and solar tiles.
A farmworker, farmhand or agricultural worker is someone employed for labor in agriculture. In labor law, the term "farmworker" is sometimes used more narrowly, applying only to a hired worker involved in agricultural production, including harvesting, but not to a worker in other on-farm jobs, such as picking fruit.
In United States government contracting, a prevailing wage is defined as the hourly wage, usual benefits and overtime, paid to the majority of workers, laborers, and mechanics within a particular area. This is usually the union wage.
The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) (OEWS) survey is a semi-annual survey of approximately 200,000 non-farm business establishments conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), headquartered in Washington, DC with six regional offices and one office in each state. Until the spring of 2021 it was officially called the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES), and it is often cited or documented with that name or abbreviation.
The Occupational Information Network (O*NET) is a free online database that contains hundreds of job definitions to help students, job seekers, businesses and workforce development professionals to understand today's world of work in the United States. It was developed under the sponsorship of the US Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA) through a grant to the North Carolina Employment Security Commission during the 1990s. John L. Holland's vocational model, often referred to as the Holland Codes, is used in the "Interests" section of the O*NET.
In Chile, workers have the right to form and join unions without prior authorization, and approximately 10% of the total work force is unionized.
Workplace health surveillance or occupational health surveillance (U.S.) is the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, and dissemination of exposure and health data on groups of workers. The Joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health at its 12th Session in 1995 defined an occupational health surveillance system as "a system which includes a functional capacity for data collection, analysis and dissemination linked to occupational health programmes".
Occupational licensing, also called licensure, is a form of government regulation requiring a license to pursue a particular profession or vocation for compensation. It is related to occupational closure.
The Standard Occupational Classification, often abbreviated as the SOC, is the system used by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics (ONS) to classify people for statistical purposes according to their job. Under this system, a job is defined as "a set of tasks or duties to be carried out by one person". The SOC classifies jobs according to the level and specialisation of skill. The SOC was introduced in 1990. It has undergone several revisions; the latest, SOC 2020, includes nine major groups of occupations, each broken down into smaller units: there are 26 sub-major groups, 104 minor groups and 412 unit groups. The groups are designed to be as similar as possible to the International Standard Classification of Occupations 2008.
The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, or the CFOI Program is a Federal/State cooperative program that publishes data on fatal cases of work-related injuries for all States, Territories, and New York City. The CFOI has detailed information on those who died at work due to a traumatic injury. CFOI data include all fatalities that occurred in the reference year that were the result of a workplace injury, regardless of when the injury occurred.
The Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses or the SOII program is a Federal/State cooperative program that publishes annual estimates on nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses. Each year, approximately 200,000 employers report for establishments in private industry and the public sector. In-scope cases include work-related injuries or illnesses to workers who require medical care beyond first aid. See the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for the entire record-keeping guidelines. The SOII excludes all work-related fatalities as well as nonfatal work injuries and illnesses to the self–employed; to workers on farms with 11 or fewer employees; to private household workers; to volunteers; and to federal government workers.
Farmworkers in the United States have unique demographics, wages, working conditions, organizing, and environmental aspects. According to The National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health in Agricultural Safety, approximately 2,112,626 full-time workers were employed in production agriculture in the US in 2019 and approximately 1.4 to 2.1 million hired crop workers are employed annually on crop farms in the US. A study by the USDA found the average age of a farmworker to be 33. In 2017, the Department of Labor and Statistics found the median wage to be $23,730 a year, or $11.42 per hour.