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Reference.org
Standard Occupational Classification System
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<p>The Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) System is a <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> government system for classifying <a href="/facts/Job/7KFjXtkK">occupations</a>. 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. </p><p>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. </p><p>An occupation is defined as a group of "jobs that are similar with respect to the work performed and the skills possessed by workers." 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. </p><p>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. </p><p>The SOC does not categorize industries or employers. There are parallel category systems for industries used with SOC data, most commonly <a href="/facts/NAICS/NAomJ7b6">NAICS</a>. </p><p>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. </p>